


Stronger Than a Curse

by TonyGrayson



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Bucky Barnes, Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Omega Tony Stark, Sleeping Beauty AU, obviously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:02:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 21,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22530658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TonyGrayson/pseuds/TonyGrayson
Summary: The Iron and Shield kingdoms are at war with Queen Hydra, a powerful witch from an accursed land.When the omega Prince Anthony Stark of the Iron Kingdom is born, everyone celebrates the coming of the new heir. Everyone, including Queen Hydra, who "blesses" the child with a short life.---Probably the hundredth Sleeping Beauty AU fanfic with these characters.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 51
Kudos: 390
Collections: Great stories





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story mainly follows the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty, with a lot of changes to make this work.  
> In the beginning, this was to be a Stony story, but new ideas came up and ended being a Stuckony one XD
> 
> If you read my other A/B/O story, you may find that the dynamics here are different.
> 
> For those who don't know my update habits, I already have several chapters written (five more), and post about 1 or 2 per week. As soon as I finish writing I start posting more frequently :)
> 
> Also I may add new tags as I go.
> 
> Hope you all enjoy! ❤❤❤

Once upon a time in the far away Kingdom of Iron, there lived a great and powerful King, Howard Stark, and a beloved and generous Queen, Maria Stark. The Kingdom was in celebration, for their omega Queen had given birth to crown omega Prince Anthony Stark, a long awaited child.

King Howard invited everyone in kingdom, as well as his allies from other lands, to join in the celebration. Between his guests of honor were Regent Nicholas Fury and the crown alpha Prince Steve Rogers of the Shield Kingdom.

The neighbor prince was soon introduced to little Anthony by the Queen. He presented the baby with his gift, a beautiful pendant of an eagle with a star at its center, the symbol of the kingdom of Shield, decorated with with an elegant chain worked on great detail. The pendant was golden with small rubies embellishing its borders and the chain, to represent the colors of the Kingdom of Iron. Prince Anthony, as little as he was, immediately made grabby hands at the shiny swinging object, making the five year old child stare in amazement at the big dark gray eyes that followed the movement of the necklace. With the acceptance of this gift, it was decided, then and there, that both princes would be married, as soon as Prince Anthony came of age, and finally unite the kingdoms.

The celebrations were continued for several days during which other guests of great importance made their presence known. When the next guests were announced to the court, everyone stopped to pay attention at what they would bless the child with.

"Arriving now, with gifts for the prince, the most honored and exalted excellencies, the Three Great Sorcerers." The Marshal called.

"Beta Lady Virginia Potts, omega Lord Peter Parker, and alpha Lord James Rhodes."

It was time for the blessing, and everyone was enthusiastic. When blessing, a sorcerer would choose one of the several traits a baby had a good potential at developing, and make sure that trait would find no obstacle in the child's life to shine through.

Lord James approached the crib. "Prince Anthony Stark, I bless you with craftsmanship and arts. May no apparent lack of resources prive your creations to wonder our hearts."

With his hands, he cast a spell that created a small crystal, which then shattered into millions of pieces that gracefully fell above the baby.

Lord Peter followed next. "Prince Anthony Stark, I bless you with knowledge and intelligence. May no adversity in life deprive you from flourishing such gift of relevance."

The second sorcerer then repeated the same steps as his predecessor.

Last but not least, Lady Virginia stepped forward. "Prince Anthony Stark, I bless you with-"

The sorcerers words were interrupted by a sudden strong gust of wind that opened all doors and windows of the throne room connected to the outside. From each entrance, large black clouds with red lightning within creeped in like gassy tentacles. Horrified gasps and cries were heard throughout the chambers, as the dark cloudy mass concentrated all to one spot at its center. They knew who would follow. 

The Great Witch Queen Hydra, sworn enemy of all kingdoms represented that day on that room, revealed herself.

"Greetings, everyone." She said in a mocking but terrifying tone. "What a joyous occasion we all have gathered here for."

"You are not welcomed here, Witch." King Howard growled as he made signal for his men to attack, with them quickly following the order.

The witch quickly let out a powerful spell that sent the guards flying back.

"Now, now. There is no need for such violence. I am not here to cause any trouble."

"I seriously doubt that." Regent Fury retorted.

"Well, as you can see, I am alone and brought with me no army. Completely defenseless." 

"Your magic makes you everything but defenseless." King Howard spat.

The witch chuckled at that. "That is true. Anyway," she continued, "I just came here, on this memorable day, to give you my respects. Yes, you are all my rivals, and this _is_ the kingdom that produces the very same weapons that are used to kill my poor people."

"You mean brainless minions and warriors who terrorize and murder _our_ people." The King said.

"Well, when you put it that way." She chuckled.

"Why have you come here today, Queen Hydra? What is your intent?" Queen Maria asked, afraid of the answer.

"To give my blessing to the child, but of course."

"The hell you are." Shouted the King as the Queen ran to the crib to pick up the baby.

"You will find out you do not have a say in the matter, your Majesty."

The witch then turned to look at the baby, now in his mother's arms, as the room froze as if a spell was preventing them to move.

"Dear beloved Prince Anthony Stark. I, the Great Witch Queen Hydra, bless you with the gift of living a happy childhood, until the day of your twenty-first birthday, where you will meet your death at the end of one of the same weapons forged in this kingdom." She then proceeded to cast her spell into the child who immediately started to cry.

Loud gasps were heard. The Queen let out a loud cry of horror, while the King remained petrified.

"That is not a blessing! That is a curse!" Regent Fury said in a tone to match his name.

"Oh my, I do apologize. I tend to get them confused." She chuckled. 

"I will kill you, evil witch!" King Howard snarled.

"You may try. And even if you succeed, nothing will change. The curse will still stand." She smiled and turned her back to them. "I bid you all farewell. May you continue to have a wonderful commemoration."

The Hydra witch then turned again into the big dark cloud from before, leaving from the same places she entered, all while letting out a maniacal laugh.

The room stood quiet for a few seconds, before everyone entered into a frenzy. 

"This is outrageous!" 

"Oh the poor prince!"

"We need to kill that witch, once and for all!"

"How could an alpha condemn an omega like so?"

"Is there any way to break the curse?"

That was the question. The question both King and Queen wanted answered.

"Silence!" The King shouted, and everyone complied.

"Oh please, Great Sorcerers. Is there any way we can save Anthony from this fate?" The Queen asked.

"Queen Hydra is one of the most powerful witches in this world." Lord James commented. "Even we cannot hope to break her spell."

"I doubt even Hydra herself could do so." Lord Peter added. "Her magic is reckless and full of evil. Its consequences are hard to control."

The Queen began to let her tears fall. The King embraced her and the little prince, who was still crying, even if not as loudly.

"There is still hope!" Lady Virginia said. "I have yet to bless the child. I may not be able to break the curse, but I may be able to make it breakable."

"Please!" The Queen begged.

"Very well!" Lady Virginia then approached the baby, held between his parents. She then spoke softly "Prince Anthony Stark, your fate may be marked, but is by no means sealed. You are a child filled with great potential which I do hope you can live up to. I bless you with the greatest of powers. The power of loving and being loved by all. If you do meet the darkest hours, may no true Death onto you befall. Her sister Sleep shall take her place, until a kiss of true love renders you awake." 

The sorceress then summoned all the power she could manage and put it into the spell. The crystal created was big and bright, and its shattered pieces fell on baby Anthony like a shower of stars.

That was the best she could manage. She knew the witch would have to send a human to fulfill her curse. The Stark weapons where all strongly enchanted not only to easily strike down the witch's demons, but also with an unbreakable spell that prevented her and her minions to use them. With her blessing, she wished to make it nearly impossible for someone to wish to fatally harm the prince. But she knew that would not be enough. She could only hope her spell of sleep could fool the curse of death.

***

The King and Queen were still agitated with the transpired events. 

Queen Maria asked the King to halt the weapon production as well as the retrieval and destruction of the already forged ones into consideration. The King replied that was something not feasible. Not only there would be no way of knowing the location of all of the weapons, it would also leave the kingdom, as well as their allies, at great risk. Maybe that was what Hydra wished. To weaken them by reducing their power over her. Why else would she go through so much trouble to end up cursing just the one innocent child?

No. They would find a way to keep their son safe. He summoned the Three Great Sorcerers, asking their advice. After long hours of discussion, they all agreed the child should be hidden away, making sure no one, not even the King and Queen, knew of his whereabouts but the ones who would raise him. The caretakers would be the sorcerers themselves.

"You Highness," Lady Virginia said, "we will do everything in our power to protect your child, and raise him well. We will keep him away for the next twenty one years, and bring him back the day after his birthday. But you have to understand, the curse is strong, and you must be prepared should it follow through."

That night, the Great Three Sorcerers left the castle with a sleeping prince Anthony bundled in the arms of Lord Peter.

On the same night, the Great Witch Queen Hydra brought back to her castle a small, and now orphan child she chose to be her champion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is kind of a prologue. Not much different from the Disney movie, I guess. 
> 
> But I had to change that blessing/gift rules a bit. I didn't want Tony's genius to come from a spell or something :P


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing Tony

"Tony!" A loud voice made itself heard coming from a cabin in the forest.

"Yes, Peets?" Tony shouted back.

Cousin Peter opened the door to meet Tony outside. "Are you leaving? Can you bring me some berries you may find out there?"

"Sure. Are you not coming with me, today?" Peter usually likes to hang out with him. Although Tony is younger than his cousin by a large margin, he most often finds himself teaching Peter new things with his mechanical work. And Peter loves to learn from him. 

"Nah." He said, giving Tony a basket with some food and water in it. "I made the mistake of promising your uncle and aunt I would help them clean the house."

"I can't believe you fell for that." Tony scoffed.

"I know, right? Well, I hope you have fun, anyway. I know I won't. Come back before nightfall, will you?"

"Don't worry Peetsy Paws. I always do."

Tony wasn't a fool, and Peter was too obvious. His twenty-first birthday was only a month away. He was going to be legally an adult from then on. 

He had live his entire life in isolation. The only people he knew were his cousin Peter, his aunt Pepper, and his uncle Rhodey. There was a good reason for that, though. Apparently, there was someone out there who wanted them dead. All of them, including Tony. His family didn't enter into much detail, but from what he understood, they had been enemies with another family for many years, generations even. Long story short, the others won the "war" and the only surviving members of the Carbonell family were on the run, hoping they would get forgotten.

That, however, was no reason to keep Tony away from society forever. He was a baby when they came to live here, more than twenty years ago. There was no way anyone would recognize him. That was why he decided he would ask his family to let him go on a trip to the nearest town, after his birthday. See how he would fare.

Okay, that was not the _reason_. That was the argument he would use when making his case. Every year, he craved more and more for socialization. For more human connection besides the three goofs he lived with (whom he loved very much). 

It all started with his first heat, at sixteen. Peter had tried to help him go through it by explaining the whole process before it even happened. But no matter how much he knew about the theoretical aspects of going into heat, nothing could have prepared him enough to what he had to experience. The pain and arousal, uncomfortable as they were, he could deal with well enough. The sense of being lost and alone? Not so much. He didn't understand how Peter could manage it himself. Maybe it was different from omega to omega. 

In any case, yeah, he had been dreaming of a mate for some time now. Two would be perfect, but he wasn't that greedy, although it was common, according to aunt Pepper. Omegas had two bonding glands, one at each side of the neck, meant for a different alpha, and since omegas were rare, many alphas did not mind to share. Of course the alphas would have to get along to begin with, or else there would always be a fight for dominance, until one ended up dead. How did he know so much? A great sense of curiosity and will to find out the answers to his questions, even if he had to go through all the books they had at home, and annoy his family enough for them to spill the beans. About anything, not just this subject, obviously.

In summary, he was only one month away of getting his first opportunity to find a mate. If aunt Pepps and uncle Bear agreed. Peetey would never say no.

Tony went down the familiar trail that lead him to an open shed he used as his workshop, picking up some blueberries along the way. He was immediately met by an energetic fox when he arrived.

"Hey there Ginger! How have you been? Is the leg giving you any trouble?" Tony asked, knowing very well the silly fox would not understand a thing he said.

Tony had found the poor thing, one day when he was fifteen, limping badly on her left hind leg from where she had been shot with an arrow. He took her home and nearly gave his aunt an heart attack, as his uncle rushed out to try to see if he could find the hunter. He and Peter came to the conclusion that the little vixen had been shot several days before, and it was a miracle she was still alive. Rhodey came back with the same conclusion that there was no hunter around. 

The wound was infected, as to be expected, and they had to amputate her above the knee. Pepper told Tony to be prepared, that she would probably not survive the night and even if she did, she would not survive alone in the wild. When she did make it to the next morning, Tony took up the project of helping her gain independence once again. After a few days of drawing, tinkering and prototyping, Tony came up with an articulated metal limb the managed to attach to young Ginger who jumped and ran with joy when she found herself once again capable of such.

With this kind act, Tony gained a new friend. Not human, but still a friend. He still had to teach her not to try to eat Mr. Snowball, a white mouse, nor his Majesty King Peanuts and his family of squirrels. Of course he knew Ginger would get her food somewhere else, but she at least stayed away from the other friends. Professor Hoot, the owl that joined their group some time later, was harder to convince, but he eventually got the message.

Ginger, now already considered an old lady, though still full of energy most times than not, leaned her head against his leg, her way to say "hello" as she asked for him to pet her. He complied with a warm smile.

He set the basket down, and took out the waterskin and a small sack filled with seeds. He filled a small wooden plate with water and put some of the seeds on another plate next to it. Then, he reached for a bird house that hung from the ceiling.

"Come here, buddy." He said softly.

A blue jay bird peeked through the hole.

"Good morning, Tweetsy!"

The bird chirped as if in response.

"I hope you're ready, 'cos I think today you will fly again, girl." 

Tony then carefully picked up the bird whose right wing had been severely damaged, and set her at the working table, next to the food and water. 

While Tweetsy ate and drank cheerfully, he made the last calibrations to the prosthetic wing he had been working on for more than a week. This was way harder than Ginger's leg, which worked well with a combination of wood and metal. Tweetsy's wing, on the other hand, needed to be made of something light but resistant. He managed to do a light and flexible material out of tree sap, and used as little metal and wood as he possible could. He then searched for anything that he could use as feathers, like... feathers.

After an hour of trying to attach the wing while keeping the bird relaxed, he finally managed to do it. 

"Now let's see if you can fly." Tony said as he held the bird in his two open hands.

Tweetsy didn't move.

"Go on, try it." He said, making a motion to encourage her.

She open her wings, and closed them again. She hopped a little and then took a leap of faith. Tony gasped.

Tweetsy fell a little before getting the hang of it and flying away. Ginger ran after her, clearly happy to see her fly.

"Bye, Tweetsy." Tony shouted. "Come back if you need me to repair your wing." 

Ah. He was so lonely.

"Okay! Back to the reactor project!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was re-reading this chapter to do a last editing when I realized the scene with Tony helping the bird fly again reminded me of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I'm really surprised I wrote it without making the connection in my head. Let's pretend it was on purpose :)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it ❤


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Are these the alphas Tony walked with once upon a dream?

"When I said I wanted away from the castle I didn't mean you had to bring me away from _everything_ , Bucky" Steve said in a fake annoyed tone as they advanced further into the large forest.

"I'm sorry this Kingdom doesn't have anything that interesting to see." Bucky chuckled. 

"Yeah, you are right! This is actually perfect. Here we definitely won't need to worry about doing what we want."

"Damn right we won't!"

Bucky considered himself a lucky man. When he was around six years old, he was found in the woods by some Shield soldiers while on a mission, who took pity on him and brought him back to their camp. He had no memory of what happened to him, the death of his parents being the last thing he remembered.

Some weeks passed before they reached a place that would accept an orphan boy, and by then the soldiers had already taken a liking to him, deciding to keep him. It was not that uncommon for the Shield army to take on young orphans for training. 

He loved growing up among the soldiers. They all treated him very well, except for an asshole or two that were like that to everyone, so he never took it personally when they tried to harass him. But more than that, he loved it because he got to meet Steve, who would also join in their training. They were about the same age, so they immediately got along and became best friends. And ~~not so~~ secret lovers.

Two alpha lovers were not a common thing, but still accepted by society. _If_ they had an omega. Which was not their case. It should not be a problem if there would be an omega involved in the future, right? Depends. An alpha is supposed to be in the relationship for the omega, not the other alpha. Meaning, if the omega were to reject one of the alphas, then there would be no bonding. Not that there were no arranged marriages between alphas and omegas, but those cases only involved one alpha. They could take another, though, if they both accepted.

And that was the reason for the secrecy. Had Steve been another soldier, no one would really care. After all, the omega population was way less than half the alpha population. And not all omegas bonded with two alphas. Yes, there would be some unasked opinions, and side glances, since they were both male and thus not able to have pups, but it would be nothing they wouldn't be able to handle. But Steve was the prince, and a betrothed one. So, he couldn't afford to have a lover. But he _could_ afford to have a crush. A not so serious relationship, so he could have some fun, while he waited for his mate-to-be reach the bonding age. Thus the "not so secret" part. To others, they were just two alphas having fun. And that was common, specially for those in Steve's situation.

The situation that led Bucky to bring Steve to this place. Steve might have been in denial, but Bucky knew better. The reason they came to the Iron Kingdom was because its omega prince was coming of age. That meant Steve would be bonding with him soon. He didn't know how soon, but he wanted to make the most of it.

They had talked about having an omega mate. They desperately wished it, actually. But they didn't want just any omega. Their omega would have to accept them both, and be accepted by them both. And they had no way of knowing if that would be the case with Prince Stark. 

So, in summary, these could be the last days he would have with Steve. No matter how it hurt, he had always been prepared it could and most likely would happen someday. And he wasn't going to waste the little time he had.

"We have been around for five days, now. I guess we should go back." Steve said.

Bucky bit back a whimper. "Y-yeah, I guess you are right. Though it should take us only about three days from where we are now."

"You talk like that's close." Steve laughed.

"It is..." Three days are nothing.

"Are you okay, Buck?"

"Of course I am."

"Then why do you sound sad?"

Bucky sighed. They were having a lot of fun the last few days, and they could still enjoy at least three more. He didn't want to needlessly worry Steve right now.

"Because I wanted to play chase, but you want to leave..." He lied. Not that he didn't want to play. He _really_ did. Alphas loved to chase, be it animals or people, it was something very thrilling to them. When two or more alphas played, one would run, and the other, or others, would chase. When the escaping alpha got caught, they would switch roles. Of course when he and Steve played, when the predator caught his prey, the _real fun_ would begin.

"We can play one more time. I don't see why not." Steve said with clear lust in his eyes.

"Great! So who's 'it'?"

"You, of course, you had the idea."

"That is not how it works."

"Well, it is how it will be. And you better start running, or you might find my teeth on your neck a moment too soon."

With that Bucky started sprinting away. It is not that he'd mind to skip to the last part of the game, but it was always more fun after a run.

Steve gave him a head start, before running after him. 

This game had another particular aspect to it. If the prey was fast enough to hide themselves from view, it could turn into a hunt that involved tracking and stalking. 

And Bucky was fast, and way better around the woods than Steve, so in no time he had the prince totally lost. He wouldn't let it stay that way for too long, naturally, or Steve would never catch him. And they couldn't leave their horses alone for too long. But he liked the idea of having Steve clueless for a little while. 

He was about to go find Steve and make life easier for him when he came across a peculiar fox.

"Hey there!" He said when said fox also stopped to look at him, in an alerted stance.

"Don't worry, I'm not a hunter. Not of foxes, anyway." He said while holding is arms up, trying to appear non-threatening.

The fox tilted its head and relaxed. It was then Bucky noticed its leg. It was made of wood and metal.

"What the-" 

He then approached the animal, curious at the contraption. It was the wrong move, for he scared the little thing who ran away immediately.

He didn't know if it was his alpha instinct for chasing things, or just his curiosity about the origin of that artificial leg, but Bucky did not waste time in pursuing the fox. 

The animal was fast, but so was he. He was enjoying himself so much that, for a moment, he forgot he should be going back to Steve, not put more ground between them.

Then a very faint scent hit him.

Omega!

He stopped on his tracks for a second, before following the scent. That's when he heard a voice.

"Hi, Ginger Gings! What's up with you today?" The voice said cheerfully before turning to a worried tone. "Hey-hey! What's wrong, girl?"

Bucky got near to a tall bush and peeked through. There was a small clearing and an open shed. He never would've thought there were people living here. But there he was, the most beautiful omega he had ever seen, with the most heavenly scent he ever came across with.

"Where you followed by a predator? Is it a wolf? There should be no wolves around here!" The omega said, taking Bucky out of his daze.

The wind changed.

"Who's there?" The young man asked, probably alerted by the alpha's scent.

Bucky decided to show himself and slowly came out from behind the bushes, hands held high.

"I'm sorry if I startled you. But I meant nor mean no harm." He said with a soft voice.

The omega froze, staring at him with those gorgeous big and bright brown eyes. His scent indicated he was nervous, with a hint of distress. 

"I'm really sorry. I really didn't mean to scare you. I will leave if you wish." He didn't really want to. "I just saw the metallic leg on your friend and got really curious about it." He then looked at the fox. "I'm sorry if I scared you too, um, Ginger Gings."

"Ginger." The omega said.

"Sorry?"

"Her name is just Ginger. I just play with the name sometimes."

Bucky chuckled, happy the omega was talking to him. "That's adorable."

The omega blushed a little, and Bucky had to fight himself to not react at that.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" 

"My name is James Barnes, but my friends call me Bucky. I'm a soldier from the Shield Kingdom." He decided it was best not to lie. "Me and p-, my fellow soldier friend," much, "were just passing through. We didn't know anyone lived here and never wished to trespass."

"Where is your friend?"

"Right now? I cannot say. We were playing chase and I was the prey. But I'm too good for him and he still didn't find me." He said with another chuckle.

"Chase?" The omega asked as he tilted his head, with more curiosity than wariness.

"Yeah, it's a popular game among alphas. I mean, betas and omegas may enjoy it too, though they usually don't get to chase."

"Alphas." He hear him whisper. Was he scared of alphas? Well it would make sense. He was a dazzling omega all alone in the middle of the forest. Strange alphas could mean a lot of trouble.

"Did you make it?" Bucky asked, trying to keep conversation.

"What?"

"The leg."

"Oh! Y-yes, I built it. Ginger was hit by an arrow when she was little, we had to amputate it." He winced. "But then I got the idea to help her run again. And it worked!"

"Wow! That's amazing!"

Another blush arose in his cheeks. "Not really. The first prototype didn't last long. And it still needs a lot of maintenance."

"No, really, that it amazing! That's the most advanced prosthetic I've ever seen. And believe me, I've seen a lot, since I'm a soldier."

"Really?"

"Yeah! I bet you would make a success, if you wished to open a shop."

"A shop..." He seemed pensive. "Well, I'll see. One day, maybe I will."

"Great! A lot of people would benefit from your talent."

The omega smiled. His heart melted.

"May I step closer to you and Ginger? I would like to see it better, if she would let me, of course."

"Um, sure. I mean, only she can 'say' if she'll allow you that."

Bucky smiled and relaxed his stance. When he stepped forward, the omega spoke again. "Tony."

"Sorry, sugar?"

"My name is Tony. And did you just call me sugar?"

"Oh, sorry. Old habits. I tend to do it when I talk to pretty people. Nice to meet you, Tony!"

"Oh! Nice to meet you too, Bucky." Tony now had a nice shade of red coloring his face.

Bucky knelt in front of Ginger, with a considerable distance and called her with his hand. She looked at Tony who pet her head, and then she went to him, scenting him first and then allowing him to pet her too.

"Nice to meet you, Ginger. You are a beautiful girl too, aren't you?"

Tony let out a soft laugh as he sat beside them. "She is indeed."

"This is really remarkable! What else do you do?"

"Hmm. Several stuff, nothing too complex. I have some clockwork feeders and toys for the animals. I made some tools to help with work at home and our garden. Today I successfully attached a prosthetic wing to a jaybird!"

"Sorry, did you say a wing?"

"Yeah, it was one of the hardest thing I made."

"I'm impressed! I don't understand what a genius like you is doing here."

"I have my reasons!" Tony replied, a bit defensive.

"Of course! And you don't have to tell them to me, if you don't want to."

Tony looked away.

"Can you tell me more about your work?"

Tony seemed happy and relaxed when talking about his projects. And Bucky was completely hooked to every sound and gesture the omega was making. He had completely forgotten about something very important.

"Bucky?" The familiar voice called. Steve!

Tony reacted at once by rising to his feet along with Ginger.

"Hey. Don't worry, Tony!" Bucky said as Steve came into view. "This is Steve, the friend I told you about."

"H-Hello. Um." Steve was looking at Tony with the same expression he imagined he had when he saw the omega. "W-Who might you be?"

When Tony didn't reply, Bucky went to Steve. "Steve, this is Tony. A genius I just met. Really, he is a master craftsman, an engineer."

"Really? It is nice to meet you, Tony!"

"Hi. Nice to meet you." Tony greeted shyly. "Um. T-This is Ginger!" He said pointing to the vixen.

"Oh, hello Ginger! It is nice to meet you too."

Bucky felt extremely excited about the turn of events. He knew he shouldn't be. There was nothing that could happen from it. But he didn't care at the time. Reality was for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They finally meet :3
> 
> As usual, I hope you enjoyed :D
> 
> Also, always eager to know what you think ❤


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A day may come when I will be more consistent and I will post the updates on the same day(s) of the week. But it is not this day! (playing Aragorn's speech from LoTR:RotK in my head)  
> Sorry about that XD

Tony knew what he was doing was wrong. 

He should have told his family about the two alphas he met, right on the first day. But he worried about how they would react. They wouldn't like the idea, for sure. At least not at first. But if Tony couldn't convince them that they were okay, that they were not a threat, then he didn't know what would happen. They would probably move, afraid more people would come, and someone would recognize them.

So, he hid the fact he was spending time with his two new very handsome and human friends for almost a month, now. Since Peter was occupied with whatever birthday present that they were working on, he didn't accompanied Tony to his workshop that much. But when he did, Tony didn't have to worry, since Bucky and Steve would only approach him, if he was alone. Tony would then change his clothes so they wouldn't end up catching the alphas' scents and, before returning, he would change them back, after a quick clean up at the nearby brook.

They weren't together every day or something like that. The alpha soldiers sometimes had to go back to the castle, to check for new orders, and it would take at least five days before he would see them again. He didn't understand how they had so much free time, but the alphas told him they weren't currently on any mission.

Tony didn't know if it was because they were the first alphas he got to know, after Uncle Rho, but he liked them. _A lot_. He dreamed they would become his alphas. Like he literally and metaphorically dreamed of that. It would be perfect, since both were lovers already, and not unwilling to add an omega to the party. He knew it wouldn't be him, though.

Tony noticed on the very first day that Bucky and Steve were very close, but on the second they confirmed it. First they asked his opinion about two alpha lovers with no omega in between, and Tony surely replied the right way (which was what he really felt about the subject, even though he hadn't heard about it before), for they seemed very pleased with his answer. Only then they told him they were together, though they didn't know for how much longer, since Steve was promised to someone. Tony felt sad for different reasons. Firstly, because it was an arranged marriage which Steve didn't seem to be too keen on. Secondly, because there was the chance Bucky would not be allowed to participate in the bonding. Thirdly, because _he_ could _not_ be part of it.

The three of them were sitting on a log bench, watching Ginger playing with Tweetsy. The blue bird would sometimes visit Tony, and this time he noticed her wing needed some maintenance. The alphas joined him later, coming back from the capital, when he was finishing the last adjustments. They seemed very impressed with his work, like they always did. 

"When will you finish the arc retractor project?" Bucky asked.

"Reactor!" Steve corrected.

"That's what I said!"

Tony laughed. "It's basically finished. Now I just need to find a way to gather the necessary energy into it. But that's the tricky part. I was thinking lightning could be a great source, but right now I don't have a safe way to do so." More specifically, a safe place. He already had some ideas on how to do it safely, but he could not do it in the middle of the forest. He could very well start a wildfire.

"And what will you do with it?" Steve asked.

Tony was happy to hear him say "will", instead of "would". 

"I'll use it to power some ideas I have for some machines. I mean, there are other ways to do it, but they don't seem very clean, and could be a waste of natural resources."

"Hu-uh." Bucky pretended to understand.

"But, anyway. Maybe I will be able to find a good place to try the lightning idea, soon."

"Really? Why so?" Steve asked.

"Next week is my birthday! My twenty-first one. And I'm planning to start leaving this place. Travel a bit and see if I find somewhere I might fit in."

"What? Really? And you wouldn't tell us?" Bucky exclaimed.

"Um- I just did?" he said with a sheepish smile.

"You have to say these things sooner, sugar! We need time to get you something nice for your birthday. And we also would like to know where we will be able to find you. Right Steve?"

"Bucky's right, Tony."

"You don't need to get anything for my birthday."

"Nonsense! Of course we do. When exactly is your birthday?"

"Thursday."

"Great! If we depart tomorrow, we will still have enough time to come back by Thursday." Steve said.

"Really, you don't have to bring me anything. I was thinking..."

"What, sugar?"

"I was thinking that maybe I could present you two to my family. If you don't mind."

"Really? You sure?"

"Y-yeah, I mean. I know there is the chance they'll want to move out of here, if they know about you, but... I believe they'll come to see there is nothing to worry about." 

Tony had told them about his family's predicament. He trusted the alphas and he didn't like the idea of lying to them. Both men got really upset with his story and wanted to know who the members of the other family were, to make sure they'd never harm Tony's. Truth was that not even Tony knew. They never really talked much about it, as the subject was almost a taboo.

"Well, if that is what you want for your birthday, we shall grant that to you. Right Bucky?"

"Of course, love."

"Thank you!"

They agreed they would meet him by the late morning on his birthday, at the usual place. 

Tony couldn't wait!

"Hey, you guys want to play chase?"

"Always, Bucky." Steve replied. 

"But I'm always being chased." Tony complained.

"Yeah, but you love it!" Bucky said with a wink and a light shove with his elbow.

"I might." He chuckled.

"You and Tony run, I chase." Steve said.

"Why are you chasing, and not me?" 

"You had the idea, Buck, you know how it works."

***

They were running together. At first, since Tony had been new to the game, they decided one of them would run with him, instead of both chasing him. In the end, they kept always playing it like that.

Tony liked to keep close to the alpha that was prey along with him and Bucky did not mind it at all. The omega was a fast runner, Bucky came to learn early on. Maybe playing with his animal friends got to train him for this. Tony was also a fast learner, but no surprise there. Bucky quickly taught him how to escape and elude an alpha, and whether it was omega instinct or his brilliant mind, Tony was almost as good as Bucky, now. No, no really. He still had a lot to learn to reach that level, but he was better than Steve, no doubt.

They had put a lot of ground between them and Steve, and it would take the other alpha some time to catch them. Whenever that happened, they would turn the game into a second chase, and Tony would do his best to escape Bucky.

Each time it would take longer for him to catch the omega. But he did it. He always would.

They fell when Tony tried to evade him and they rolled around a bit, in play, with the omega pretending to try to escape again. Then Bucky pinned Tony down. He had to control himself not to react at the sight below him. He never thought it would come to this. It had only been about four weeks, but he knew he had fallen for Tony. And it was all his fault. If he had just ignored the omega, before he could let himself be spotted... If he had just left those woods right after.

"Bucky?" He heard Tony say.

"Yeah, sugar?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"How much I want to kiss you right now."

Tony's eyes widened, and a red blush covered his face. Bucky only then realized what he said.

"Oh my! Is that an offer?" Tony grinned.

And there it was. Blushing in one second, shameless in the other. Bucky loved it.

"I wish it would be. But it wouldn't be fair."

"For Steve?"

"For you! I know for a fact Steve would make you the same offer, if he could."

Tony just bit his lower lip and said nothing at that.

"But he is to bond with the one he is promised to." Bucky continued.

"What happens if his omega won't bond with you too?"

"I know what you mean, I've thought about it. But it's still not fair for you. It would seem like you are a second choice. But you are not a second to me, Tony. I don't really want to choose between you and Steve."

"Wait. What are you saying?"

He said too much. And Tony is sharp, of course he would catch the meaning.

"Do you really think the best way here is all or nothing? Instead of having me _or_ Steve suffer, you want us both _and_ you to suffer? This just because you don't think it's fair that, no matter what, you would always get to be with one of us?"

"No, it's just-"

"Okay, then you don't want to choose because you think the other will feel less loved? A 'second', like you mentioned?"

Yep. He shouldn't have brought the matter up.

"You and Steve have been together for way longer than you know me." Tony continued. "I wouldn't feel bad if you were to stay with him. Actually, I would feel terrible for Steve if you were to come to me, even if you could bond with him and his omega. And it would definitely be way better for me than having the three of us alone just because you are afraid of hurting my feelings."

"I don't know Tony."

"It is your decision, Bucky. If you wish to be with me if Steve is bonded and his omega rejects you, though I cannot imagine why anyone would, I will be more than willing. But don't use us as an excuse to punish yourself, you understand? That will make me mad at you!"

Bucky wanted to cry. He couldn't even think straight due to the turmoil inside him. It's like he was regretting having to meet Tony but at the same time he couldn't live with the thought of not having him in his life. He and Steve found their perfect mate. Problem was, they couldn't have him.

"So," Tony said, bringing Bucky out of his thoughts, "no kiss?"

Bucky chuckled.

They then noticed Steve's scent. 

"I'll think about that." Bucky said with a grin, and releasing Tony. "Maybe we should wait til a special day?"

Tony grinned back as they both rose. "You tease."

"Found you!" Steve shouted.

"You are supposed to catch us, dummy!" Tony laughed as he started running again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all know what will happen on Tony's Bday :P
> 
> Thank you all for the comments and kudos 💙💙💙  
> They mean a lot to me and my motivation!!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Tony's birthday!

"Happy Birthday, Tony!" Pepper, Rhodey and Peter shouted, as soon as Tony came down the stairs, hair still tousled from sleeping.

"Aw, thanks guys!"

"Tony," Pepper began, "this is a very special day!"

"I _know_! From today on, I'm legally free from you lot!" He joked. It was true, though.

"Yes, well..." she hesitated. "Tony, we need to talk!"

"Oh boy."

"Let us sit."

"Don't worry, Tony. It's good news!" Peter assured.

Tony wanted to believe it, but somehow he was finding it hard to do so.

"You see, Tones," Rhodey started, "the reason we are here in these woods is not because there are people who want us dead."

Tony froze. What?

"We are here, because someone wants _you_ dead."

What? What? Why would anyone want _him_ dead? He didn't know anyone before coming here.

"Okay, I know you are confused, dear." Pepper said. What an understatement. "But, do you remember the old story about the evil witch that cursed the omega prince with a spell that only broke with the power of true love?"

"What on earth do you mean? Is that some metaphor for my situation?"

"As weird as it sounds, it is quite literal!" Peter said.

"You are the omega prince, Tony. You are Prince Anthony Stark of the Iron Kingdom." Pepper said.

The hell he was.

"And we are not really your family." Rhodes continued. "I mean, we are family, we raised you, for God's sake. But we do not share blood."

This was a freaking nightmare. He wanted to wake up.

"Actually, we are sorcerers! We can do magic, can you believe it?" Peter said with great enthusiasm.

"W-What happens..." Tony was trying hard to fight the tears. "What happens now?"

"Today is the day your curse should take effect." Pepper said. "We will keep you safe. If nothing happens till midnight, the curse will break itself."

"And after that?"

"Tomorrow we will take you to the castle. So you can meet your future mate, the prince from the Shield Kingdom."

"No!" Tony shouted as he got up.

"What? Tony?" 

"I don't want him as my mate! I don't even know him!" 

"Don't worry Tony, the prince is a fine young gentleman. You two actually met before. He was the one that gave you that beautiful pendant you have."

"The one that was supposed to be from my parents?" Tony snapped.

"Tony, we only wanted for it to keep having some meaning."

"I know this is too much to take in at the same time, Tony. But your parents _are_ alive!" Rhodey said, as if that knowledge would make him forgive them for all their lies. Yes, the idea of his parents being alive was amazing. But they were strangers. The King and Queen? He doubted they would be the same people he grew up believing his parents were.

"We have this for you, Tony." Pepper gave him a paper box. His present. "They are royal clothes. Fit for you. We spent the last month making them. We couldn't use magic, not to catch the witch's attention, and we didn't know much about sewing, but we believe that, at the end, it turned out pretty good."

Tony didn't even open the box. He just threw it away and ran for his room.

"Tony!"

He locked himself inside. This couldn't be happening to him. He wasn't a prince. That wasn't him. He was just Tony, the lonely omega who loved to craft stuff and creating new tools to help with anything he thought he could improve. Now what? He would have to abandon all of it? His workshop? His friends, animals or humans. 

Humans. 

Bucky and Steve!

He promised to meet them that morning. Maybe... would they take him with them, away from all this? No, if they were to know he was the omega prince, they'd have to take him to their prince. Their loyalty was to the kingdom of Shield, right?

What if he didn't tell them? He didn't wish to lie to them, but what else could he do? No, he couldn't do that. What if the soldiers found them and think they kidnapped him or were helping him escape knowing who he was? They could be executed.

He had to do something. He wasn't Steve. He couldn't marry someone he didn't know just because his parents said it would be so. Specially not when he just learned about the arrangement, and didn't even know his parents.

Tony decided to tell Bucky and Steve the truth. If they would help him escape, he'd be forever grateful. If they decided to turn him in, then he would pretend he'd accepted his fate and run as soon as an opportunity arised.

Someone knocked.

"Hey Tony." It was Peter. "May I come in?"

Tony didn't reply. Instead, he started to pack up some things, in case he needed to leave right away.

"I know you are upset. I understand. I did tell Pepper and Rhodey you should have known the truth from the beginning. But please, believe when I say that we only wished your safety and happiness, Tony."

Okay, he already got some clothes and few useful tools. He needed food but that he could not get from the house. There was probably still something at his workshop, and he could get some berries on the way, and water from the brook. 

"And I thought you'd be excited to finally meet new people. You told me not long ago you were thinking about having a mate."

"A mate of my choosing, Peter." He snapped. "I'm not that desperate to want the first alpha put in my path." Okay, that was kinda what happened with Bucky and Steve, but it wasn't something that happened from one day to the other. 

Just one thing missing. The pendant. It may be something he didn't really want to get caught with. But if he were to find the right people, or even worked on it a bit first, maybe he could sell it for a good price. He didn't really have any currency on him.

"Come on, bro. Maybe we can convince your parents that you need time to adjust? And get to meet the prince properly before marrying?"

"Go way, Peter! If that is even your name. It seems you are not even my cousin, anyway."

There was some silence for a moment.

"O-okay, Prince Stark. I-I apologize." The voice faltered. "I will leave you alone."

That hurt. But Tony kinda started it. No! Peter still lied to him for almost twenty years. But no matter how angry he was feeling, he could not say he hated them. To him they were his family as much his real parents were not. Maybe one day he'd forgive them, or even understand why they lied to him. Maybe he wouldn't hate it so much, if he hadn't met Bucky and Steve. But he had, and if there was even a tiny chance he could be with at least one of them, he would take it.

He heard Peter's footsteps going down the stairs. Then he went to the already opened window, climbed down and ran towards his workshop.

It was still early, but maybe they were already there. If not, he would hide and wait for the right time.

When he reached there, he saw Bucky, sitting on the bench next to his shed. Steve wasn't with him. It didn't matter. He was probably somewhere near. 

"Bucky!"

The alpha looked at him. There was something strange with his eyes. Like he was looking at him but not seeing him.

"Bucky, what's wrong?"

Bucky got up as Tony got near him.

"Tony..."

"Where is Steve? I need to tell you guys something. It's urgent!"

"Please..." Bucky said with a raspy voice, as if it was hard for him to talk.

"What?"

He didn't really see it. It was too fast. But he felt it. 

When he looked down he saw the hilt of a red and gold dagger, blade buried in his chest. 

He looked at Bucky. 

Why? 

He heard someone shout his name. 

And then, nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pepper's, Rodhey's and Peter's approach was not the best, I know. That’s why it backfired. I don’t think the real characters would be stupid enough to believe it would work, but I needed to keep this part similar to the Disney movie so Tony would have a reason to run. 
> 
> Still, as always, I hope you enjoyed :D  
> ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts a few days before the end of the last one (it's obvious, I know)
> 
> ~~~ means the beginnin/ending of a flashback

"You have everything ready, Bucky?" Steve asked.

They were three days away from Tony's birthday. It usually took them about two days and a half to get to him, meaning they would have to leave in a few hours.

"Of course I do!" Bucky replied excitedly.

"You have the pendant?"

"That's the very first thing I packed!"

Gifting a loved one with a pendant was the traditional ritual to ask them in marriage. 

After he and Bucky came back from Tony's, they had a very long discussion about their future. Bucky told him about the conversation he had with Tony, with whom Steve agreed with, in part. 

~~~

"I don't think it is a hard decision to make, Bucky. I truly believe you should be with Tony."

"Is this you being self-sacrificing again, or trying to do your role as an alpha? Making your omega's comfort as your priority?"

"Yes and No. Firstly, Tony is not my omega, no matter how much I wish it would be so." And he did wish it, a lot. It was getting harder and harder not to just quit on this absurd engagement with a person who hadn't shown their face during the whole month he had been there. Who had never shown his face at all, even on the other times he came on official visits. The Iron Prince probably wanted nothing with him either. He'd be doing them both a favor.

"Secondly," he continued, "I'm trying to look out for you both. Tony will need every help he can get to survive, if he does decide to leave his home. I know he is very intelligent and smart, but that does not mean he is prepared to face society right away. Plus, he'd be all alone, since his family cannot risk being seen. And you? I know if you ended up with Tony because Prince Stark rejects you, you'd always be worrying you would have hurt Tony."

"I'd never decide for you and then go to him if that failed. I wouldn't do that to him!" Bucky said with a serious frown.

"I know that. Tony knows that, and he told you already it would be okay if you did it. But I understand what you mean, and that's why I'm telling you that I believe that you should ask him to be his mate right away."

Bucky seemed to understand what he meant. But that didn't stop him from looking devastated.

"Hey, Bucky. I'll be okay. And it's not like I won't be able to see you two again. I still expect you to belong to my personal guard. You and Tony can live in the capital."

"You're right. And there is the chance the Stark prince will not be really into you, and have his eyes on someone else, and then you two could make a sort of arrangement so you can-"

"Stop right there, Bucky. I'm not a cheater."

"It's not cheating if you both agree to it!"

Steve chuckled. "You are incorrigible!"

~~~

And so, it was decided. 

On Tony's birthday, Bucky would ask him to be his bonded mate. Steve was happy to see Bucky excited with the idea.

"Shall we go ask permission to leave, from Regent Fury?" Bucky asked.

"Yeah, he will not be happy for being noticed in such short time, though."

"True, but he's the one who has been too busy, the last few days."

When they arrived at the Regent's quarters, they requested the announcement of their presence.

"Steve. Good thing you are here since I need to talk to you."

"Nick."

"I believe this is a matter for just between me and you." Nick said side eyeing Bucky.

"Is this going to take long?" Steve asked.

"Probably. Most likely. If you have plans right now, I believe you should cancel them."

Steve nodded, not liking where this was going. 

"If I'm not done in two hours, go ahead. I'll catch up as soon as I can. Don't be late for him." He whispered to Bucky, who nodded in acknowledgment.

As Bucky left, Nick rose from his chair. 

"I believe you know why we came here, to visit the Starks, am I correct?"

"I can guess." He was not stupid. He knew that every time he came to the Iron Kingdom, there was a chance he would leave it bonded to its prince. "When is it?"

"In five days."

"Excuse me? You said five _days_?"

"You heard me well."

"Why am I learning this just now? We have been here a month!"

"If it were up to me, you would be learning about it on the very same day. But the Queen insisted you had time to prepare yourself. She does not know about how much you favor that _best friend_ of yours, though."

"This is ridiculous, Nick. I have not even seen the prince."

"There is a good reason for that."

"What? Is he not happy with this arrangement either?"

"Oh, he does not even know about it."

"You are either telling me he lacks basic intelligence or that he does not know I am here. He is what? Locked in a tower all this time?" Steve sneered. "Perhaps so he does not run away with another alpha."

"He does not know he is engaged."

"What?" Steve was extremely confused. "Why? How?"

"It is a long story. But what you need to know is that you will meet him in four days. See? You get a whole day to know him. I bet he is lovely."

"You bet? _You_ do not know him either?" Steve took his hands to his head. "How can _you_ not know him? Is he even real?"

"Like I said, it is a long story. And yes, he is very real. You met him when he was a baby, remember?"

"Not really, I do not remember that day much. I was five!" It was a lie. He did remember the wide-eyed baby very well.

"Well, that does not matter."

"Can we at least postpone the wedding a few days? There is someone I would like to invite, but it would take me more than four days to go and come back." The invite was an excuse, of course. He didn't really think Tony going to the wedding would be a good idea. 

"You are not going anywhere now, Steve. You can send a bird, and hope they are here on time."

"I cannot send a bird to where he is."

"Then send a messenger."

"No, I cannot do that. I must do it myself." Steve insisted.

"If you think I am going to let you leave so you can run away from this, you have not been paying attention to what I was saying. Guards!" Nick shouted.

"What are you doing, Nick?" Steve protested as the guards entered the room.

"I am making sure you do not do something you will regret later. We need this union, Steve. It will make both Kingdoms stronger, so we can take down our enemies." 

"This is ridiculous."

"But necessary."

Luckily, Nick didn't take his mention of being locked in a tower too literally. He was just locked in his room. Which was still at a considerable height. 

He was wasting time, and he didn't even know what to do. He knew this day would come. He just expected to have more time to prepare himself emotionally for it. Now? He wasn't even sure he wanted to go through it. No, he was sure he didn't. But, could he do it? Abandon it all? What would happen to the kingdom if he were to run? He was the only heir. But Nick wasn't the King and was doing a good job anyway. Maybe they would find someone who'd be better qualified to be King than him. He knew he was a good leader and had people who were loyal to him. But that was as a Captain, not a King.

There was also something suspicious about the omega prince. Somehow it felt like they were hiding Steve from him more than they were hiding him from Steve. How come he didn't even know about the engagement? This was so wrong. 

He would not abandon his happiness and his true mates to continue with this nonsense. He would go to Tony, as he promised. He'd explain to him and Bucky everything. He could only hope Tony would forgive him for not telling him he was the prince of Shield. Then he would ask prince Stark's real feelings about the bonding. If the omega was to say he'd be doing it against his will, or that he already had someone else, then he would not go along with it. The kingdoms did not need them to be mates. They were already strong allies, for several generations, and were doing well enough. No need for making people miserable just to have one king and kingdom instead of two. If anything, they needed more people making decisions instead of less.

Leaving during daylight was not possible, unfortunately. So, he had to wait until nightfall, to escape. Even then he could not leave long before the break of dawn, since riding in the dark would be too slow and he'd rather use that time for resting.

His horse had been taken down again to the stables, and he had to sneak in to get him out, and prepare him for his journey, rendering some men unconscious along the way. 

If he rode fast enough, maybe he'd catch Bucky before he arrived there. 

He had no such luck, though. He did lose too much time at the castle, and Bucky might have quickened up the pace too, but he was confident he would reach them in time. 

As it was, he ended up arriving earlier. As soon as the sky started brightening, he galloped to Tony's workshop, knowing well those parts of the forest. 

He saw the clearing. Bucky and Tony were already there. Tony seemed distressed. Did Bucky tell the omega about him? About why he was not there with them?

Bucky grabbed a dagger he had fastened to his belt. What was he doing?

"TONY! NO!"

He wasn't understanding what was happening. Bucky had stabbed Tony in the chest as Steve approached them. He got down of his horse even before they stopped and ran to shove Bucky, who fell down right away. 

"No, no, no!" Tony was unresponsive as Steve dropped on his knees in front of him and grabbed the omega's head with his hands. "Please, hold on, sweetheart!"

Tony was getting paler, and colder to the touch. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't accept it.

"No, no, no..." He couldn't help but cry. He never felt so powerless in his life.

"S-Steve?" He heard Bucky's voice say. 

"Why? Why did you kill him?" He shouted.

"What are y- Oh my God! Tony!" Bucky got up in alarm and ran to them. "No!" 

"You did this! I saw you stab him!"

"M-me? No, I-I couldn't! Steve? I'd never-"

"Oh my! What do we have here?" Said an unknown female voice.

Steve and Bucky turned to the woman. She was tall, bald and cadaverous, her eyes bloody red. The skirt of her black and red dress was ripped in a way it reminded Steve of tentacles.

"Y-You're the witch!" Steve then realized. "The Hydra witch!"

"Queen Hydra, if you may. And you are Prince Rogers. This is perfect! I get two princes in one day." She said with excitement.

"Two prin-"

Steve looked to Tony. He didn't understand how, but it was too much of a coincidence. The Iron Prince who was never seen, whom they have been waiting to come of age for them to be married. A marriage set to happen in two days. The prince who didn't know of their engagement. Prince _Anthony_ Stark. 

He saw it then, the gold chain around Tony's neck, with small rubies decorating it. He picked it up until the pendant was revealed from within his shirt. The same pendant he gave to the big-eyed baby, twenty-one years ago. 

"This was your doing." Steve concluded. She used Bucky. That was the only explanation. The dagger wasn't even his. It had Stark's colors.

"If you are talking about his death, yes, dear. It pretty much was my doing."

"What the fuck is going on?" Bucky growled. 

"Silence, boy!" She waved her hand at him and he went down on the same instant, unconscious.

"Bucky! What did you do to him?" Steve shouted.

"Nothing dear. He's just sleeping. I wouldn't hurt my champion for no reason." She giggled. "Now, what to do with you? Should I kill you, or use you? Yes, yes! I could use you to take down your kingdom from the inside. Mess with your mind to do my bidding, just like I messed with his." She pointed to Bucky. 

"That will not happen." Steve said as he drew his sword. "For I am going to kill you."

Hydra laughed. "That's precious." 

Several of the witch's demons appeared from the bushes as if summoned. 

"Take him away. Do try to keep him alive and unspoiled." 

The demons then attacked Steve. 

As he fought them off, Hydra approached Tony's body.

"Such a shame. Had I known he would become such a beautiful omega, I would have probably made him mine instead. Oh well. Too late, now."

"Get away from him, witch!"

"My, my. I see you have slaughtered my lovely children. How rude of you." She said, not looking too pleased. "Naughty boys do not get to play." As she said the words, the loose fabric of the bottom of her dress sprang towards Steve, as if they had a will of their own, gripping around his body and immobilizing him. "Now, go to sleep!" 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Queen Hydra is rude. Just leaves Tony there to rot. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed ❤❤❤  
> It's always great to read your comments!


	7. Chapter 7

"I warned you we should have told him the truth from the beginning!" Peter said as the Three Great Sorcerers came across Tony's empty room.

"You also told us Tony was likely to be happy to know he would leave this place." Rhodey replied.

"Yeah, well. He had hinted that a lot. I believe the problem here was that he learned he was getting married to a stranger like in two days."

"Shut up, the both of you! We need to find him, before is too late." Pepper said.

"Where should we look? His workshop?" Peter asked.

"There is a chance he went there, but if he ran away, I don't think he would linger around the place for long." Rodhey concluded.

"Should we use magic to locate him?"

"It is a great risk. If we use magic, Hydra might locate us, but if we don't get to Tony in time..." Pepper pondered. "Screw it!"

With an elegant movement of her hands, she cast a tracking spell, creating a wisp of light that guided them to the omega prince.

They followed the bright trail with their hearts in their mouths, fearing the worst. When the small fiery blue ball of light stopped at a figure lying on the ground, they lost all hope.

"Oh no, Tony!"

"This can't be. All these years, and we..."

"We are too late."

Pepper approached Tony's body. A golden and red dagger on his chest, his face was peaceful, as if he was asleep. 

Asleep.

"Oh, I just hope..."

She knelt and examined him with her magic. She then exhaled. 

"My blessing worked. He's not dead."

Peter started to cry and Rhodey became hopeful. 

"He's asleep, then?" Rhodey asked.

"Yes. But we need to do something about this dagger. It missed his heart, but it is still a fatal wound. We need to find a good way to heal him or he won't survive when he wakes up." Pepper said.

"Can't we just use a healing spell?" Peter asked through his sobbing.

"This is a serious injury resulted from a death curse. Our spells by themselves may not be enough. We need more power than we can conjure right now. Or maybe ever..."

"Then has this all been for nothing?" Rhodey started losing hope again. "We are just keeping him alive until someone can wake him up, so he can die?"

"I'm sorry." Pepper said. "If only I thought this through when I blessed him."

"No. It's not your fault, Pepper. This is all Hydra!" Rhodey assured.

"Wait guys, do you think a lightning bolt would be a good source of power?" Peter asked.

"Lightning is pure power. But we do not have any way to harness it. Many sorcerers have tried in the past, but most of them ended up dead, and the ones who survived were not successful either."

"What if we use something that could hold the power, instead of trying to get it into ourselves?"

"What do you mean?"

"Tony has been creating this device he wished to use to power up some of his contraptions so they didn't need a spring wind nor water to make them work, he told me he had finished it, even showed me last week, he said all he needed now was to find a way to safely use it to harness the power of lightning." Peter spoke without almost stopping to breathe.

"You think we can use it?" Pepper asked.

"If we can combine the healing spell with that power, maybe. We need to see this device." Rhodey said.

"Yeah sure right away!"

Peter ran to Tony's workshop where he found the small metal piece. Rhodey then inspected it and concluded it would be perfect, assuming it would work. But since they were talking about Tony's creation, they were very positive it would. 

Summoning lightning was not a difficult task for a sorcerer, not even to a specific spot. In no time, they managed to charge the reactor after a perfectly aimed bolt hit it. A bright bluish light emanated from its center. They could _feel_ the great power it held inside.

"It worked!" Peter jumped with joy.

They enchanted the glowing object with a combined healing spell, trying to make it as powerful as they could. Then came the trickiest part. They carefully removed the dagger, in an attempt to avoid making more damage, and with the help of other spells, they managed to embed the arc reactor to Tony's chest. 

"This should be enough, I hope." Pepper said examining again Tony's body. "It seems the power of the device is counteracting the power of the curse."

"So, he won't be able to ever remove it." Rhodey concluded. "Will it last long?"

"For what I can tell, it will hold enough for several lifetimes, so he should be fine in that aspect." Peter said. 

Both Pepper and Rhodey sigh. 

"What do we do now? Tony never met someone besides us. How can there be anyone to wake him?" Peter asked.

"Now we take him to the castle. I am hoping Prince Rogers will break the curse." Pepper picked up Tony's pendant. "I have sensed a strong bond between them, twenty-one years ago. And I still do so, today."

"But they haven't really met. Tony was but a baby." Rhodey said.

"Hey guys, what's this." Peter said as he picked up a sword that was laying nearby. 

"Th-that's a Shield sword!" Rhodey noticed. "T-this is Prince Rogers shield!"

"What? How?"

"Oh my God, do you think he was the one who-" Peter put his hands on his head.

"No! That's not possible, he would have no reason to kill him." Pepper assured.

"Then why is this here? Where is he?"

They heard a sound from the bushes and froze. Ginger came out from them and ran to the sorcerers. She was holding something in her mouth.

"This is part of a demon's armor. Hydra was here." Rhodey said as he picked up the piece of dark metal that Ginger dropped on his feet.

The fox barked.

"Hey, Ginger. Was Prince Rogers also here?" Peter asked, and Ginger tilted her head. "Steve Rogers?" He tried.

She barked again. One of the omega Lord Peter Parker's talents was communicating with (some) animals. Foxes were among those. They didn't exactly get to understand the language, but he could pass on an idea he wished to convey to the animal's mind.

"Was he alone?"

Two barks were heard. No.

"Did he kill Tony?" No. "Was an evil witch also here?" Yes. "Did she kill Steve?" No. "Did she take him away?" Yes.

Pepper gasped. "Ask him if Tony and Steve knew each other."

Yes.

What have they done? Not only they let the curse follow through, they lost the only one who could break it. Or at least, break it enough for Tony to wake up.

"We need to take Tony to the castle. To his parents. They knew it could come to this." Pepper said. 

"We also need to warn them that Prince Rogers has been taken by Hydra." Rhodey added. "We need to find a way to save him."

***

Nightmares was something Bucky was used to. Sometimes he would dream of the extreme heat of the fire that took his parent's lives from him. Other times he would dream of freezing in an isolated cell of ice. The worst dreams involved bright red eyes looking into him as if they were trying to dig deep into his soul and grab his mind to shape it to their will. 

Nightmares were a common thing to him. But he didn't mind much. Not after meeting Steve. Not only he started having have less and less of these dark dreams, he would always find the support of Steve's arms and chest, every time he awoke from them. They were just nightmares, they were not real. Steve was very real, though. And better than any dream.

This nightmare, though, was something new. The most terrifying nightmare he ever had. He dreamt of Tony, his beautiful Tony, smiling at him with his big shiny brown eyes. Steve was there too, he had decided to come to them, bond with them. Bucky could not be happier. 

*Bucky, Tony.* Steve said with a bright smile. *The three of us will be finally be together.*

*I'm so happy!* Tony said.

Bucky froze.

*What's wrong, love?* Steve asked.

*Tony!* Bucky tried to shout at the sight of Tony's dead glassy eyes, blood dripping from his lips, and the rapidly growing red stain at his chest. But no sound came out.

*What have you done, Bucky?* Steve screamed, and Bucky saw his alpha lover's heart literally break into millions of pieces. *How could you?* The voice was low and condemning. *You have killed our omega! You have destroyed everything! I hate you! I will kill you!*

*N-No, Steve. I didn't do it! I swear! I love you both so much, I would never do anything to hurt any of you.*

He woke up as soon as Steve's sword sliced through his neck.

He was on high alert. Heavily breathing from the shock. He recognized the room. The frozen cell from his dreams. It was not entirely made of ice, but parts were covered in it. Even the uncomfortable bench he was laying on.

"W-what-"

Then everything came to him. Tony's death was not a dream. Neither was Steve blaming him for it. 

"Steve!" He tried to shout and was met only by silence.

Bucky wanted to cry. Tony was dead, they were attacked by that evil looking witch. She said she was to blame for Tony's death, but Steve said before he saw Bucky killing him. He could not remember doing it, but he did remember feeling as if something was trying to take control of him. Steve! Where was Steve? Was he dead too? He had to find out. What if the witch took him, and was also holding him in another cell? 

He gathered enough strength to get up and check the door. It was naturally locked, but he could see some guards from the small barred opening at the eye level. They didn't look human. These were demons. He then remembered Steve and the witch referring to her as Hydra. Their enemy.

This was semi-unknown territory. It was not the first time he had been captured but was the first time he was captured by non-human creatures. He only hoped his tactics would also work on the demons.

***

"Tony! Bucky!"

Steve awoke in chains, lying on a wall bench of an empty cold small room. The witch got him, he remembered. Him and Bucky.

He tried to get up. He wanted to peek through the bars at the opening of the metal door and see if he could find Bucky. Tell him he was sorry for blaming him for killing Tony.   
Oh, Tony. He nearly lost all the strength on his legs, when the image of the omega's pale and serene face came to his mind. He had to make an extra effort to rise again.

He couldn't get far. The chains locking his wrists together where bolted to the wall and were short enough for him to not be able to reach the door.

But then the door was opened, and Steve could scent the foul alpha odor he now associated with the witch Queen.

"Good evening, sleeping beauty." Hydra said. "I was wondering for how much longer you would be asleep. I was starting to worry I exaggerated on the sleeping spell." 

"Where am I?" Steve growled.

"Take an educated guess. I think it is quite obvious." 

"What do you want from me? And why did you kill Tony?"

"Tony? Oh, you mean the little cutie pie omega prince. Well, how should I put this? It was never about the prince, you see? I needed to give King Stark some sort of motivation to stop making those accursed weapons that conveniently cut easily through my forces. So, I cursed the little one to be slain by one of those weapons." She explained. "Twenty-one years should have been enough for me to collect most of the already forged ones, leaving both Stark and Shield Kingdoms, and their other allies, at my mercy."

"King Stark never stopped the weapon forging." Steve pointed out.

"I know, right? What does that tell about his parenting?" 

"King Stark is not stupid, on the contrary. He saw right through your plans. What did you gain with it? Nothing!" Steve spat.

"I wouldn't say exactly nothing. You see, I have the Stark heir dead, and the Shield heir in my power." She said with ominous look in her red eyes. "And oh, the things I can and will do with you. " She chuckled. "I will make your mind mine, like I did to your beloved friend. I will free you, with no memories. They'll believe you have escaped, take you in again. You will get to marry some other less important omega and be crowned King. And then, little by little, you will lead your kingdom to ruin, after starting a war with the Iron Kingdom. It will be perfect."

She then moved away towards the cell door.

"But before I can do that, I have to fully break you. I thought perhaps you were already broken, with the little one's death. But I guess I just broke half of you." She winked and grinned creepily. "And I think I know how to deal with the other half."

Steve growled at her. He knew there was nothing he could say to stop her doing what she had planned. 

When she left he tried to compose himself. He needed to find a way to escape, before Hydra could harm Bucky. He inspected the handcuffs. They didn't seem enchanted so maybe he could slip his hands through, if he dislocated his thumbs.

Steve stopped when he heard a sound on the other side of the door. 

The door was once opened once again.

Steve held his breath, expecting to see Bucky being dragged in by Hydra's demons.

He saw Bucky, but alone. 

"Steve!"

"Bucky! Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I need to get you out of here." Bucky went quickly to Steve and started working on his shackles.

"You mean 'us'." 

"No, Steve. The priority here is you. You are the prince, the one that Hydra has plans for. And honestly, I don't think I deserve to be saved." Bucky said with a grieving face.

"Bucky, it was not your fault. What happened to Tony. It wasn't you! I'm sorry for blaming you."

"Well, I don't really know how it happened, but you saw _me_ do it, right?"

"Hydra was controlling you."

Bucky managed to free Steve.

"It doesn't matter now. Let's go." He passed a sword to Steve. One of the enchanted ones to kill demons.

"Where did you get this?" Steve asked.

"Hydra put me in a different part of the castle. On the way here, I kinda passed by an armory full of these. I think she's collecting them."

"That was lucky. Do you know how to get out of here?"

"Not really." Bucky said. "I feel I've been here before, but I don't remember anything besides my cell."

"It's okay. We will find a way. And you are coming home with me." Steve insisted.

Bucky did not say anything to that, though guilt was still written on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess the next chapters may not follow the Disney's version general idea anymore XD
> 
> Hope you enjoyed ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤  
> Like always, hope to read from you ❤❤❤


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I almost forgot to post this chapter, today XD  
> I don't know what time is anymore. What's a week?

They looked everywhere but found no place from where to escape. The castle was a freaking maze. They were starting to believe that maybe there wasn't really a way out.

For a while, they managed to keep out of sight. But after so much time roaming around, they ended up being spotted and chased. 

The demons were coming from everywhere, and it was getting harder and harder to fight and evade them. One small mistake and they would be done for. Bucky felt he was failing Steve, once again. He would have tried to find an exit first, before getting to him, but he was so worried he didn't think it through. Not that it would make any difference, since the place was probably enchanted to appear endless.

Then it happened. While he was fighting off three of the demons, a fourth managed to slice through his left arm. The pain would have been unbearable, if he had not been fighting for Steve's life.

"Oh my God, Bucky!" Steve gasped and quickly went to help him kill the demons attacking him.

"Your arm!" 

Bucky was not understanding what the fuss was about. Until he looked at his dangling arm.

"Fuck!" 

There was so much blood. How could he have not noticed before?

"We need to stop the bleeding, or you won't make it."

"We don't have time, Steve. We need to find an exit," Bucky insisted.

"Shut up, Buck. You know I refuse to let go of you," Steve rasped.

Steve then proceeded to take his belt off, to use as a garrote, and tied it just below Bucky's shoulder. 

"Shit, I hope this is enough," Steve said.

"A future King should not swear, love," Bucky teased.

"This is no time for jokes, Bucky."

They could hear more of the Hydra's minions approaching them. They stood no chance, Bucky knew it. By the look on Steve's face, he knew it too.

"I'm sorry, Steve."

"I'm sorry too, Bucky," Steve replied as he embraced him tightly, still careful not to hurt him.

Bucky closed his eyes, wishing everything but them would fade away. 

"What are you two doing there? Hurry up and come with us."

"What?" Steve said before Bucky could. 

An omega kid, who could only have appeared out of thin air was staring at them. "Hurry! They won't be able to hold it much longer."

They then noticed that, at each side of the corridor they were in, stood a sorcerer casting a barrier spell to stop the demons. Behind the kid was a strange glowing rectangle shape the size of a door, they assumed was a portal. Bucky have heard about those things that powerful sorcerers could conjure to travel between long distances in seconds. 

After processing what was happening, he and Steve followed the omega through the portal, the other two sorcerers right behind them, closing the doorway as soon as they came though.

"Where are we?" Steve asked, disoriented.

"At the castle, The Stark's one! Um, I'm Lord Peter Parker, One of the Great Three Sorcerers, It's an honor to meet you, Prince Rogers, and um-"

"Sergeant Barnes," Bucky said. 

"Um- right, Nice to meet you, Sergeant Barnes, These are Lady Virginia Potts and Lord James Rhodes."

"Rhodes, Peter... Pepper?" Steve asked.

What? Are they...

"Yes. I suspect Prince Stark told you about us, as being his family."

"Prince Stark?" Bucky was confused, then it clicked. "WHAT?"

"Yes. He did, but now it's not the time to make acquaintances. We need to treat Bucky's wound, as soon as possible," Steve hurried.

"Oh goodness, that looks nasty," Lord Peter said.

"I can help you with that," Lady Virginia said, "Meanwhile, you two should take Prince Rogers to Prince Stark. The sooner we wake him up, the better." 

"Wake him up?" He and Steve said in unison.

"Yes," she continued, "I cannot guarantee you my blessing will last long. So, hurry up!"

"Tony's not dead?" Bucky asked, hopeful.

"You don't know of the curse Queen Hydra cast on the prince?" Lord Rhodes asked.

"The witch told me about it. But she was pretty clear the curse was meant to kill him," Steve replied.

"Long story short," he said, "Lady Virginia managed to make the curse breakable, and temporarily keep Tony under a sleeping spell. If the curse is indeed broken, then he will live. So, hurry up, because we believe you are the only one who can do it."

"Me? Why me?" Steve said as he started following the sorcerer.

"Only a kiss of true love can wake him. You two were a thing, right? Please tell us you two were a thing." Lord Peter said. 

"We were not a _thing_ because we believed we could not be. But if you are asking if I love Tony, yes, I do. But in that case, we are also gonna need Bucky!"

"Steve," Bucky said, "I don't think... after what I've done-"

"For the last time, Bucky, that wasn't you."

"I'm sorry, I am so confused right now," The omega said.

"Tony managed to steal the hearts of two alphas, Peter. That kid does not waste time and always aims high," Rhodes said with some fondness in his voice.

"Oh... Oh!" 'Peter' blushes a bit, "T-then how does it work?"

"There," Lady Virginia said after using her spells, "this should hold on for a little while. You won't bleed to death and I've managed to numb the area, so you won't feel pain."

"Thank you, Lady Virginia." 

"Please call me Pepper. If you two are indeed Tony's alphas, then I would prefer we skip the formalities," The beta said, "Anyway, you must understand, Barnes, that your arm will have to come off."

"Yes. I do understand that., He knew, from the beginning, that there was no chance to save it.

"Good, now let's go."

They followed the sorcerers to what they supposed to be Tony's room. Or at least the room that should have been his. 

"Please wait here," Rhodes said. 

Pepper entered first, and after a while the Stark King and Queen exited the room.

"Oh! Prince Rogers! Please save my poor boy," The Queen begged as soon as she spotted Steve. She was crying desperately, and Bucky felt another wave of guilt.

The King did not address Steve. If anything, he looked furious at him and Bucky.

"Please, enter," Pepper said, "You know what to do."

"Where do you think you are going, Sergeant?" The King asked, not hiding his disdain.

"He is going where he is needed, your Majesty. Now, please do step aside. We should not waste any time."

King Howard looked a bit confused and apprehensive but didn't try to stop them.

When they finally managed to enter the room, Bucky was faced by the most beautiful and heartbreaking scene he ever came across. In the most beautifully decorated room of reds and golds, Tony was lying on his back, in the middle of the bed, hands crossed on his chest, as if he was peacefully asleep. His face was pale, and he was dressed in very fine royal omega garments. In his chest glowed his arc reactor. The sorcerers had explained they used it to keep him alive. Bucky had no words to describe what he was truly feeling.

"Oh, Steve. Look at him," His voice faltered.

"I know, Bucky, I know."

"Please wake him up." 

Steve sat on the edge of the bed, clearly nervous. He then lowered himself down to give a light kiss on Tony's lips. There was an almost immediate reaction from Tony, whose cheeks gained a healthy color as he inhaled deeply as if he had been unable to breathe before. But he did not wake up.

"It's your turn, Bucky."

Bucky was feeling extremely anxious. He did not think he'd be able to make a difference. Not when he was the one fulfilling the curse that put Tony there in the first place.

"Please, Bucky. I know you can do it," Steve insisted.

He crossed the room to stand next to the bed, next to Tony, and leaned towards him, doubting himself all the way down. As soon as their lips touched his doubt changed to determination. If _he_ was the one who put Tony in that situation, then _he_ would have to take the responsibility of taking him out of it. 

Bucky gave Tony the most tender kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, Queen Hydra is not forgotten :P
> 
> Hope you liked it ❤❤❤


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking so long to post this chapter.  
> I've been so uninspired lately.
> 
> I hope I won't fail you next week again.

When Tony opened his eyes, he thought he was still asleep, for he felt like he was still dreaming. 

He saw Bucky and Steve, smiling at him in such way it made him feel the most cherished person in the world. He smiled back, wishing he would stay in that dream forever.

"'morning, sugar." Bucky said. It felt so real.

"How are you feeling, sweetheart?" Steve asked.

"As if in a dream." Tony replied. 

When Bucky squeezed his hand tight, Tony realized he wasn't dreaming. 

"Wait! Is this real?"

He tried to get up and immediately felt dizzy.

"Wow, careful, Tony. Don't move so fast." Steve warned.

"What happened, where are we?" Tony looked around. He was in an enormous room, on the biggest bed he could ever imagine, wearing the finest clothes. Oh!

"We are at the castle."

Of course.

"Do you remember what happened?" Bucky asked.

"Bucky, there's no need-" Steve stopped as soon as Tony put his other hand on his chest, while Bucky gave him the saddest look he had ever seen. 

"What happened exactly?" He looked down when he felt something he wasn't expecting. "Is-is this my arc reactor?"

"Tony-"

"Wow! It's working! Who charged it? You know it was not supposed to power _me_ , right?" He let out a dry laugh. "Wait! Oh my God, Bucky! What happened to your arm?" 

"Tony, we need to talk. Tell you everything from the beginning. Or at least, what _we_ know about." Steve said.

Steve sat down at a chair, next to the bed, before starting to narrate what happened that day, even telling him why he was late. Bucky was still sitting on the bed, holding his hand. When Steve finished, Tony kept silent, just staring at them, amazed at the turn of the events.

"Are you okay, sugar?" Bucky asked.

"I-I'm not sure." He stuttered. "I-I mean. It's like, wow, I... I feel terrible for what you two had to go through because of me."

"What? Tony, this was not your fault." Bucky said and Steve agreed.

"I know. I mean, not directly anyway."

"Not even indirectly." Steve said. "It was all Hydra's fault. We were all victims of her greed of power."

Tony bit his lip then.

"What else is there Tony?"

"Well, I... are we engaged, Steve?" Tony knew they were. Steve was the prince of Shield, the one his family told him he was to be married to.

Steve smiled, as did Bucky. But before either could say anything else, the door was opened ajar.

"Sorry, I just can't wait any longer, I need to kno-TONY, Oh my God you are awake!" A crying Peter said as he ran to Tony and embraced him tight.

"Hey Peets Feets." Tony said fondly. 

Pepper and Rhodey joined them in the room soon after, together with a couple he presumed to be his parents, judging by the teary face of the omega woman.

"I'm sorry, I know I am stepping on some boundaries here, but I-I was so worried, Tony! I'm so sorry!" Peter sobbed.

"It's okay, flood of tears." Tony assured with fondness. 

He looked at Pepper and Rhodey, who also seemed on the verge of crying, and motioned them to join the hug, which they promptly did as they apologized for keeping the truth from him. They held on until they heard someone clearing their throat. 

"Oh, we apologize, your Majesty!" Pepper said and they all pulled away from each other. "Prince Anthony, may I present you your parents, King Howard Stark and Queen Maria Stark." 

"Oh my child!" The Queen said as she when to embraced Tony.

"Oh!" Tony said startled. "Um- nice to meet you, um, my Queen." He then looked at the frowning man. "My King."

"What nonsense. Please call me mother. Oh, you've grown so beautiful." 

"Indeed, that is true." The King said. "I am to understand that you and Prince Rogers already know each other and are very in love, yes? Then we should proceed with wedding ceremony as soon as-"

"Will you stop it, Howard?" His... mother scolded. "I just got my son back after twenty-one years, who just woke up from a sleep of death. Poor Prince Rogers also had to go through a lot today, and we clearly now have to consider the Sergeant here, who looks like he should be being seen by the physicians at this very moment."

"I-What?" The Kind asked confused and angry. "Consider the Sergeant? How exactly did this happened?" 

"What does it matter? I mean, I am supposing you three wish to bond, am I wrong?" She asked.

"Yes!" Was their reply.

"Then that's settled! Only after you are all recovered, we shall have this long-awaited wedding." She said with finality. 

The King looked like he wanted to protest but refrained from it and only nodded with a grunt.

Tony was still stunned on how the Queen went from the crying fragile omega to a mama bear showing her fangs.

***

A few days later, a report came through informing that the Witch Queen had been gathering her forces, clearly with the intention to attack the Kingdom of Iron. They would only have a few days, three weeks at most, to prepare themselves for battle.

They were all extremely busy. Steve had spent most of the time helping with the preparations. Nick called their troops from the Kingdom of Shield as soon as possible, but it still took them about a week to arrive, even though both capitals were relatively close.

Meanwhile, Tony built an amazing prosthetic arm for Bucky that, combined with a spell from Peter, who was, after all, one of the Three Great Sorcerers, worked as if it was of flesh and bone.

This naturally caught the attention of the higher ups, and soon they were all curious about what Tony could do. The Iron Kingdom was well known for their advanced weaponry, but the Witch's demons were immune to most, unless they were enchanted. Enchanting small objects was an easy task for the hired sorcerers, but the bigger ones were out of their abilities. The Three Great Sorcerers could not help with that, for their power could not be used to bring death upon others. Not even demons.

"I've been reading about demons, to understand what we are up to." Tony said. "And I noticed that they are usually, if not always, slaves to their witch master."

"That is correct." Rhodes said.

"Is there any way to free a demon from the witch they serve? Like a spell or such?"

"You want to focus on freeing them, instead of killing them?" Steve asked.

"If they are slaves, then it's not their fault they are part of this war. Besides, if I were to build something with the purpose of freeing them, then even the Great Three Sorcerers could help with the enchanting."

"That makes sense." Rodhes concurred.

"Still, we do not know what will happen, if they are freed. For all we know, they could still keep fighting." Nick said. Although Howard had dismissed Tony's ideas, saying something like "omegas do not belong in war", Nick knew better. He saw great potential in Tony, and as the man said, he had been blessed with knowledge, intelligence and craftsmanship.

"If they wanted to fight for Queen Hydra, then they wouldn't need to be slaves." Tony pointed out.

"Let's suppose they do not wish to engage us anymore. I doubt they will start fighting _for_ us. And we don't know if they will still be aggressive and dangerous. They could easily escape and go around the land terrorizing the people."

"True that there is that possibility." Rodhes said. "But it is said that all demons have been once normal people, or animals, that have been corrupted to serve the purpose of the witch they were enslaved to."

"Can they return to what they once were?" Tony asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't think many have tried to free them before. Or at least successfully. But I can do some research on that, although it would be better if we could have a way to test the spells, if we are to find or think of a way to do it."

"Well, I do believe King Stark does have some demon prisoners." Nick said. 

Tony and Rhodes glared at him.

"Yes, we also have them back in Shield. Not something I am proud of. But these are creatures of magic, and we need everything we can to help us defend ourselves."

Now it was Steve and Bucky glaring at Nick. Steve knew of these prisoners, but naively believed they were just that. Prisoners. Now Nick was implying they were also test subjects, and that did not go well with him.

Tony and the Great Sorcerers were then busy with their research. Nick had tried to convince Tony to focus on weapons to destroy the demons, but Tony ignored him. They found about a potion with properties of cleaning the target's mind of influence, upon ingestion, and went from there. After a few days they managed to come up with a formula they were confident it would not risk the demon's life or health, even if it failed. But it was a success. Even a single drop managed to break the spell on the demons. Their minds became free after a few minutes, but they were incapacitated during that time. Their bodies and memories took a few days to revert to their original, though. Luckily, they had no memories of the time as Hydra's minions.

With that much information, Tony then developed a contraption that would spray the potion around a considerable radius. The object was spherical, and it worked by removing a pin and throwing to the desired direction. After just a few seconds, the potions would be released in vapor form. It turned out that inhaling it would have the same effect as drinking it.

Nick managed to convince King Howard to manufacture the grenades. Somehow, the King did not seem so happy that his son managed to come up with such ingenious idea. Steve could only assume it was either because he had become estranged from Tony, since he did not get to raise him, or just because Tony was an omega, raised in isolation, and still showed to be more intelligent than him. Steve doubted he the reason was just him believing his omega son should not be disturbed by subjects of war, as he declared.

The King later got his opportunity to re-assert his authority.

"Your marriage will have to wait until after Hydra is defeated." The King replied when Steve, Tony and Bucky requested his permission for the bonding ceremony.

"King Howard," Steve began, "with all due respect, we do not know what will happen during the war. There is change that I or Sergeant Barnes, or even both of us might not return from it."

"All the more reasons to wait. You want my son to be a widow at twenty-one?"

"Your Majesty," Tony tried," please, if-" 

"This is no time to prepare a ceremony. In a few days we'll go to battle. I cannot spend the time nor the resources to plan a ceremony. Not to mention our allies would not be able to be present."

They tried to appeal by suggesting a small affair. Just them and a priest. They could have a bigger ceremony after. But the King did not relent.

To say they were disappointed was an understatement. Why would the man deny them such simple request? It was not unusual for people to bond just before going to war, if they were in love. Yes, if one of the partners were to die, it would be devastating, but that would happen with or without the bond. At least no one would end up regretting not bonding when they had the chance.

"I don't mean any offense to you, Tony," Bucky said frustrated, "but your father is kind of an asshole."

"None taken, Buckaroo, I actually agree with you."

"Yet you don't seem too affected."

"Well, let's say I'm good at finding alternatives." He said with a mischievous grin.

Steve only understood what he meant one day before their departure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> I hope everyone of you is safe, as well as your dear ones.
> 
> Stay strong, everyone!
> 
> ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Sexy times ahead!   
> If you do not wish to read it, I'd say to skip the chapter and read the end notes for a brief summary.

"You want to us to bond, this night?" Steve asked with surprise in his voice.

"I think that is a great idea. Always told you Tony is a genius." Bucky said.

They were in a room Tony had prepared for the occasion. No one saw them get into it, because they used a portal summoned by Peter.

"Thanks Bucksy Bucks!" Tony said, while wrapping his arms around Bucky's shoulders to hug him, and getting his waist held by the alpha's hands in response. It felt so nice.

"Are you sure, Tony? The King will not be pleased." Steve asked.

"Why? We can still have the ceremony after the war. I've been researching on the matter. It is very common for the bonding to happen before the wedding itself."

"True. But it is usually the night before. Because the bonding is supposed to... erm-" Steve stopped as if embarrased to say it out loud.

"They say most times it's overwhelming and many end up not being able to resist immediate mating." Bucky said with no reservation. "And it's something not really appropriate to do at a church, during a wedding." He finished with a wink.

Tony blushed just a little bit. At least he felt it was just a little bit. "Well, all the more reason to do it before. If you are so concerned about the King finding out, I can keep my neck hidden until the night before."

"No, sweetheart. At this moment, I could not care less what King Howard wants. All I want to know if _you_ are sure about it."

"Of course he's sure, Stevie. Or else he wouldn't have prepared all this." Bucky concluded.

"You are so smart, Buck Deer." Tony leaned his head to the man's chest and got rewarded with hands sliding up and down his back and a scent he had been associating with lust.

Steve was looking at them with a red face and dark eyes.

"Well then," the alpha said, while stepping behind Tony and also wrapping his arms around him and Bucky, "I see no problem, that being the case."

Tony gasped when Steve pressed his lips on his right bonding gland. He could now scent his own arousal. That scent was amplified when Bucky pressed their hips together, both of them already half hard, and started to move, creating such sweet friction that Tony could not help but let out a moan.

"God, you smell and sound so good, sugar." Bucky said as he leaned to the left side of Tony's neck, pressing his nose on the other bonding gland.

Tony then felt Steve pressed against his back, hard against his ass as he started to move with them. In no time he was wet on both sides.

"I-I should-" Tony started. "I should rem-ber you that I li-ved, ah." But he could barely think. "I live in isolation a-all my life."

"We understand this is your first time, Tony." Steve said, now softly biting on his ear.

"Don't worry, sugar, we will take good care of you." Bucky assured. "Right, Stevie?"

"Always, love." Steve replied and leaned to kiss Bucky.

It was hard for Tony to get a good angle to see it, him being completely buried between the two alphas, but what he managed to witness made him go even more dazed.

"I don't mea- mean that." He panted when the alphas broke apart. "It's just- It's just I'm not sure I know all th-this entails. It's not something I-I found in my research, a-and the few omegas I talked to didn't seem to be comfortable into entering into much detail." He confessed with a blush. 

He was embarrassed because he wished he knew what he needed to do to please both of his alphas. But he hadn't been allowed to read the books that might have had some information about it. He tried to talk with some of the omega handmaids that were assigned to him, but they would always change the subject, so Tony supposed it was not something they wished to talk about with someone else. Or at least with him. He understood though, he felt the same about asking Peter or his mother. 

"Oh." He heard. It was then he realized the alphas had stop moving.

"I-um-," Steve tried, "should we talk? Or do you wish to talk with someone else?"

"What? No! I know the basics. I've had heats, I had to be explained at least that. It's just... I just know the basics."

"We'll teach you something advanced with time, sugar." Bucky winked. "But today, like I said, we'll take care of you. By the way." Bucky took a step back and went for his pocket. "I had meant to give you one, on your birthday." He took out a silver pendant with a blue stone. "I had to get another one, since the first was taken from me, but..."

He then presented the necklace to Tony.

"Is this...?" Tony asked.

"Yes. It is my official marriage proposal."

"Were you...?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter now. In the end, we managed to get the three of us together."

"Bucky actually tried to convince me to cheat on my intended. Which turned out to be you." Steve said jokingly.

"I didn't tell you to cheat. I told that if your intended also disliked the situation and had a significant other, you _both_ could come to some sort of an arrangement."

"Oh! That makes sense." Tony said. "It would probably been the best option. I wouldn't be surprised if that's not what happens in other places. Both would have some chance at happiness even if they have to be married to someone they do not love."

"See, love? Tony agrees with me." Bucky said with a smug smile.

Steve sighed and shook his head. "What to do with you two mischiefs." He was clearly amused.

"For starters," Bucky started as he took Tony's hands and pulled him onto the bed, "you could join us here, so we can continue with our mischievous bonding plan." 

Tony heard Steve chuckle, but Bucky kept Tony's attention on him. "Will you accept my gift, sugar?"

"Yes! God, of course, yes!" 

Bucky gave him a big smile and moved to tie the necklace, finding Steve's already there, beneath his shirt.

Steve drew a sharp breath at the sight, as he too climbed the bed, but before Tony could look at him, Bucky leaned down to kiss him. 

This was just their second kiss, but it was as if the first, for he was still under the sleeping curse for the other one. It started soft and gentle. That was good because Tony didn't really know what to do. But Bucky held on to his promise of taking care of and teaching him. When the alpha deepened the kiss, Tony made sure to follow the lead. He was a good learner, so when Steve grabbed his chin and turned his head to kiss him too, he continued with what he had been doing with Bucky.

He felt lips brushing against his bonding gland again. This time on his left side. Touching there had never felt like that burning before. He wondered if was because it was an alpha touch, or if it was because it was Bucky and Steve. 

Steve trailed his lips down his jaw to his neck.

"Are you ready? Can we?"

Tony could barely make out a word, so he just nodded.

They both bit him down and Tony was instantly overwhelmed. He thought he screamed. Not sure if too loud. Thank goodness he asked Peter to soundproof the room. 

If he couldn't speek before, now he couldn't think. Nothing beyond the need to mate. His mind was foggy, almost as if he were in heat. And maybe that was it. Bonding could very well trigger a soft heat on the omega, and that was why many people could not resist the urge to breed.

When he noticed, his alphas had stripped him down. Had stripped themselves down. He could only see Bucky, since Steve was behind him. He then confirmed that alphas were bigger than omegas in _all_ aspects. No toy he tried had prepared him for that, he thought. 

Bucky went down on his length with his mouth. He didn't know that was a thing. At the same time, Steve was using his fingers to prepare him. That he knew, but one thing was you doing it yourself, another was having your alpha doing it to you. Tony gasped, squirmed, moaned. Possibly loud, he couldn't tell. He was so high on the heat like state.

He came with Bucky's efforts. Steve pushed him down and entered him slowly. Tony made a sound, the sensation was too much, in a good way.

"God, I want to make you sound like that with me too." He heard Bucky say.

Steve's thrusts were slow and gentle, as if he was minding not to hurt him, but Tony soon tried to beg the alpha for more. He believed he managed to say the words, since Steve did pick up the pace. 

Once again, he was close. He wished he hadn't for as soon as he came for the second time, Steve stopped and slid out.

"W-wha...w-why..."

"Shh, it's okay, sweetheart. Should we let Bucky participate too?" Steve asked.

"Y-yes... Bucky..."

"I got you, sugar." Bucky said as he turned him so he lied on his back, spreading Tony's legs and pulling them up.

Bucky started slow, like Steve did before. But didn't linger, there was no need, after Steve.

This position was not as comfortable as the previous one, but Tony was happy he could see Bucky. The pleasure written on his face. Pleasure his alpha was taking from him. 

Then Steve was right there, behind Bucky. At first, Tony didn't understand what he was doing, but he soon realized what was happening.

"Fuck, you're perfect, sugar." Bucky said to Tony.

"Language." Steve reprimanded, but amused.

Tony laughed. He was so high on his bliss.

"Can I... will you let me-" Bucky tried to ask but he was cut short by his own loud moan Tony suspected was Steve's doing.

Tony understood the question. He was starting to feel the extra pressure. 

"Yes. Please, do it." Tony replied.

"Thank you, sugar." Bucky was panting harder. Steve also joining the breath chorus. "T-turn around then. It will be more comfortable after."

Tony did as he said. It made sense. A knot was supposed to last around fifteen minutes. Being folded in half without being able to move was not something he looked forward to.

It didn't take long, after that. He felt it when Bucky came, as they got locked. Another entirely new sensation that almost knocked him out. He screamed. Bucky screamed. Steve screamed. 

Never he had imagined that an alpha also could knot another alpha. But there they were, lying on their sides, Bucky in the middle saying something sweet. Steve was also saying something, but he couldn't really process it. 

Tony fell asleep.

When he woke up, they weren't connected anymore. Bucky was still spooning him and Tony was now in the middle, with Steve in front of him, caressing his face.

"Good morning, sweetheart." Steve said with a soft smile.

"It's still dark out there." Tony noted. It was the break of dawn, but too early still.

"I know. But me and Bucky need to get up early. We will leave this morning. And you should be in your room when someone is sent to wake you up, or else they will think something happened to you."

"Hmm." Tony said. He wanted to protest but he knew Steve was right.

"Just a few more minutes." Bucky grunted behind him, tightening his grip on Tony.

"What he said." Tony smiled.

Steve chuckled. "What am I going to do with you two children."

"I can think of something." Tony said, grinning mischievously.

"Genius, I say." Bucky snorted.

"Come on," Steve said as he got up, "we need to go."

Tony didn't want to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary for those who skipped: the three of them bonded on the night before the departure.
> 
> I have no idea when I'll be posting the next chapter. I'm not at my usual place and it gets hard to write here. But I'll try.
> 
> Hope you are all safe! ❤❤❤


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so so sorry for taking this long with this chapter. I'm terrible with battles/fights and I got so uninspired lately that I couldn't even open the text editor to write this. 
> 
> Now that the inspiration came back, I wrote the chapter as fast as I could. There might be some typos and such. Sorry about that XD
> 
> Hope you enjoy ❤

They were as ready as they could. 

Many of the men were still too untrained, some of their allies had not arrived in time, but the more they waited, the bigger the army of demons they would have to face. At least, this way, they managed to choose the battlefield.

They did not use the grenades that Tony and the Sorcerers created, right away. They could not risk immediate retreat from the demons or else Hydra could figure out how to make them immune to the potion. The strategy was for some key soldiers to spread through the area of the battle, wait for a signal, and deploy the devices. 

It worked better than expected. After the first batch of grenades that incapacitated hundreds of demons, the others, in their confusion, started to agglomerate on the zones where the smoke did not reach, making it easier to aim the second attack. 

The very few demons that avoided the potion managed to retreat. But the damage was done. Hydra had lost most of her demon forces.

Needless to say, she was not amused.

In her anger and despair, the Witch Queen shapeshifted into what they then understood gave her her name. 

_Hydra._

They had never seen such creature. Only imagined it from old stories and intimidating paintings.

She was huge, about forty feet in height with her serpent necks vertically straight. Yes, necks. She had two thin, but long necks connected to two lethal looking heads.

Many soldiers fled right after their eyes laid on the creature, and many others when said creature started to snap at them with her numerous sharp teeth, killing several men and women with the vicious bites.

Bucky and Steve ran towards the monster, not sure of what to do to take her down, or if it was possible to do so at all, since many bards sang about the beast's immortality. The serpentine necks were too long and flexible, allowing her to reach far while still protecting the possible vulnerable areas like her body and the necks themselves.

As expected, they caught the attention of the witch right away. The fury in her glare was translated in the violent swings of the necks, in an attempt to strike both alphas, who barely managed to avoid the attacks.

" _Whose magic is this?_ " Her venomous voice echoed, " _Who is this new sorcerer, who stole my children with their poison? Who broke my curse? Oh yes, I can feel it. The pretty omega prince no longer roams the valley of Death._ "

"There is no sorcerer!" Steve shouted, not sure if the beast could hear them.

" _Lies! You will tell me the truth, alpha prince!_ "

They saw a chance there. The longer they could stall her, the longer they had to come up with a plan to defeat her.

"I know this will come as a shock to you, but this is not the work of anyone's magic." Bucky said with a mocking tone in his voice. It wasn't completely true, though. Tony's curse was broken with the help of magic, and the potion which filled the devices the brilliant omega developed had also a magical touch.

" _Silence, pet! Do not dare to lie to me while you wave that arm of metal, clearly powered by magic._ "

Steve signaled Bucky. He had an idea but needed the other to distract the witch.

"The only magic present here is only used as a link between the arm and my mind. The rest is pure genius!"

" _What are you saying?_ "

"I'm saying that all that power and you are going to be defeated by a human with no magic whatsoever."

" _What pathetic lies! I will find out that sorcerer and deal with them myself. And you, pet, have already served your purpose._ " Hydra said as she lunged one of her heads at Bucky. 

As Bucky dodged the attack, Steve jumped on the head and stabbed it with his sword. But the skull was hard to break, and the damage was minimal.

Hydra just let out a small hiss of pain.

" _You think you can kill me with such puny weapon?_ " She laughed.

She began shaking her head, trying to throw Steve off. Her other head was being occupied with the archers that decided to take on her at the same time.

After Steve managed to hold himself, he then tried the next thing. He cut through one of the fins on the head that reminded him of ears. The reaction was the desired one. 

Shock and pain disoriented Hydra, who brought down her injured head, giving Bucky the opportunity to slice through her neck. 

It was a mess. Although thin in comparison to the rest of the body, the neck was still thick to human's eyes, and the blade did not totally separate the head from the body. But it was enough for the damage to be lethal, the neck ripping at the cut until it fell off completely. 

One down!

Now they had more chances. With only one head, Hydra would not be able to keep her guard so easily and all it would take was another misstep on her part.

Or so they thought.

The cheers of the soldiers, who shared the hopes of the pair, where silenced with the monster's screeching laugh. 

Soon enough, the headless stump began to twitch as lumps started to grow from it. Everyone froze in horror when two new heads formed where the previous one was cut. 

Hydra had now three heads. 

The immortality referred on the legends now made sense. Her previous two heads were probably the result of an initial single one that was chopped down long ago.

Everyone was desperate. Neither Steve nor Bucky knew what to do. Cutting more heads was off the table. If the beast _was_ killable, they had to focus on her body. But if previously it was hard to get near it, now it seemed impossible.

Hydra laughed again.

" _So precious. You all really believed you could defeat me. You are all but ants to me._ "

"You know that there are some vicious ants out there in the world, right?" A somewhat familiar voice said.

The cheeky tone of the voice caught everyone's attention to a full armored soldier in bright red and gold, clearly from the Iron Kingdom troops, but different from all the other soldiers.

"You must know that, since you are supposed to be so knowledgeable."

It was then that Bucky noticed the blue light coming from the soldier's chest. "Tony," He said, not sure if he should be horrified that their omega lover was there, at the mercy of the dangers of the battlefield, or hopeful that the genius may have a plan to destroy the giant lizard for once and for all. By the looks of it, Steve was with the same dilemma.

" _Tony? The little omega prince? Is this a joke?_ " Hydra hissed.

"If it is not, it should be. I love jokes!" Tony replied.

"Tony, you shouldn't be here," Steve urged, having decided to worry, "You have no training nor experience in the battlefield! It's too dangerous!"

"For what I can see, having training or experience is of no use either." Tony concluded.

" _That is correct, little one. In the end, I will kill every one of you._ " She stopped a moment. " _Or maybe I will keep you, pretty omega._ "

"Hard pass on everything you said." Tony said.

" _That is not for you to decide._ "

"I beg to differ."

These words said, Tony revealed his intentions. Every eye was on him, awed and stunned, when he lifted through the air. Even Bucky and Steve were speechless.

" _You-You are the sorcerer!_ " Hydra concluded.

"Me? Sorcerer? I didn't even know magic was actually real until like a few weeks ago. Always thought it was a word used to describe unknown science. Though I'm still not one hundred percent sure it is not." 

Tony now flew fast around the monster, her heads confused on where to look, thus disorienting her, going by the several number of times they crashed against each other. Clearly, she was not used to having three of them.

Steve and Bucky took this as an opportunity to strike at her chest, but Hydra managed to wipe them away with her tail. 

"Guess I will have to try the last resort." Tony said as he landed behind Hydra.

" _Give up!_ " She said, while turning, " _Flying around like a little bird will not solve anything for you. Accept your fa-_ "

A blinding light was shot from Tony. A painfully loud shriek was heard. When the light stopped, a hole could be seen going through the monster's chest, whose massive body fell limp on the ground, shaking it with the impact.

Stillness followed for a while. All eyes on Hydra in case she managed to rise again.

Black smoke emanated from the body as if evaporating. It was the witch's magic, meaning she was dead for real.

No one could believe what had just happened. 

"Phew, I'm really glad that worked!" Tony broke the silence first, "It was a one-shot thing. If it failed, then this would all be really a joke. A not so funny one."

Tony was then being tackled by two hard bodies that threatened to crush him. He was glad for the strength of his armor.

"God, that was amazing Tony!" Steve said in awe.

"I knew you had something under your sleeve! How did you do that?" Bucky was now inspecting Tony's armor. Tony then removed his helmet.

"You see, as it happens, there can be many uses for the arc reactor. I just had to make sure no one will have any funny ideas about it, in the future."

"That sure is something dangerous. Did you use the power of the one keeping you alive? Does it still have enough to work for long?" Steve asked.

"I thought about it, yes, but like you said, I would definitely end up with no power. No, I actually made another one," Tony said as he removed the reactor of the chest plate. It was not shining anymore, and was clearly broken, "I made it so it would be useless if emptied. This way no one can misuse it. I also asked the Three Great Dorkeres to help me make sure the one I'm using would also be useless to anyone but me."

"You thought of everything, huh?" Steve concluded, clearly amused.

"And when did you have the time to think and _make_ all that, sugar?" Bucky asked, frowning just a little.

"Yes, I know I didn't tell you. But truth is, I wasn't sure this would work. And don't make that face Bucky. If I told you two that I wanted to come with you, you would make it so I couldn't, even if I was sure this would work!"

"But of course! You have lived all your life in peace, without knowing battle, how-" Bucky sighed.

"It's okay, Bucky," Steve said with a soft smile, "What matters is that everything went well, and Hydra was defeated."

"I know." The alpha resigned. "Fuck, Tony! You were so freaking awesome!"

"I know!" Tony beamed.

"So humble, eh?" Bucky laughed.

"Is that the prince?" A voice was heard.

"The monster said so, right? Our savior is Prince Stark!" Another replied.

In seconds, they were surrounded by the cheering soldiers, who wanted to meet the prince who saved the day, for the first time.

"Well at least Howard won't cut _my_ head when he learns we bonded yesterday." Tony whispered to his alphas.

"I think there will be no beheadings for a while, after what we just witnessed with Hydra." A voice cut through their laughs and everyone got quiet.

Fury joined them with his typical poker face that made you wonder whether he was pleased or about to torment you with a sermon full of sarcastic remarks about your failures. 

"Goodness, did you replace your missing eye with an extra ear?" Tony asked, new to Fury's advanced auditory capabilities.

Fury ignored the comment. "I hope this will be enough to make King Howard see that omegas can be as capable as alphas."

"Yeah, about that," Tony started, "Don't expect me to do more of these, " He pointed to the broken arc reactor, "At least not for the purpose of war."

"We shall discuss that later. But do not believe that war is my only interest, Prince Stark. My main interest is to keep the people from my Kingdom, as well as our allies', safe. Peace sometimes needs war, as you experienced today, but it also needs so much more."

Tony understood what Fury meant. Sometimes you got to be prepared for what may come. But he was not convinced that what he saw "being prepared" the same way as Fury. 

"You know what would help peace, right now, Nick?" Steve intervened, and said out loud, "Inviting everyone to celebrate our victory over Hydra and the bonding ceremony between me, Tony and Bucky." 

The soldiers around started cheering again at the prince's promise of double festivities, making Fury sigh as if defeated. Steve then could tell the alpha was pleased with the outcome.

Horns were heard, the King of Iron was approaching.

"So," Tony said, "Who is going to tell him?"

"One thing I'm sure is that it will not be me," Bucky replied.

Steve sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next (last) chapter will probably just be a short epilogue. I haven't written it yet so I'm not sure XD
> 
> Hope you liked it ❤
> 
> Sorry again for the delay.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue

There had not been a celebration so joyous as this one, for the last two decades, in the Kingdom of Iron, or any Kingdom of the alliance. Both Iron and Shield were to be united by blood. They would still be separate reigns, led by two different rulers, but it would be as if the lands had been married themselves. 

Family.

Only Steve's children could be heirs to the throne of Shield, but Bucky's would also be eligible to rule the Iron lands.

For now, they lived at the Shield Kingdom. Iron was still ruled by King Howard, and Steve had just been crowned King of Shield. Tony was also given the title of King of Shield, as King Rogers' omega mate, though he was still the prince of Iron.

Bucky and Steve would sometimes find themselves scolding Tony for the constant panic he would give to the men and women in charge of guarding him. The energetic omega was too curious about the outside world to be stuck at a palace all day, even if he had been given a large space for him to use as a workshop, complete with all the materials and tools available. Sometimes Tony just wanted to talk to people, interact with them. No, the ones at the palace did not count. They never felt they were being genuine with him, always too polite, too formal, no matter how much he tried to put them at ease. So, he would dress some simple clothes, sneak past his guards, and spend hours in the city, browsing its markets, talking to its people, mesmerizing the children with his tricks.

One day, the two alphas found their omega at a small shop the folk said to belong to a beta wizard who would surface from time to time to sell wonderful magical tools. He would do a screening for his next customers, to understand who were the most needed. And the price? A leaf for a tool. Yes, a leaf. The wizard had need of them, for whatever reason, and he could not collect them unless given to him, or so the people said.

"Really Tony?" Steve asked when he saw one of his husbands, dressed in his disguise, grey robe, fake beard and pointy hat, while his other husband laughed at the sight. The lack of scent told him the omega was using something that blocked his natural aroma.

"Yeah, you are right. I shouldn't let them believe I am a wizard. Much less let them believe that leaves have magical properties. But, you know, things just escalated. Really, I never knew people would just believe _anything_ one would say, as long as you explained them as 'magic'," Tony babbled.

"You think that this is what this is about?" Steve said, trying at stern look but clearly failing.

"Sugar, you can't go around the place without proper security," Bucky finally said, after he composed himself from the ridiculous situation. 

"But if I come here as King Stark, then it would defeat the purpose of having real interaction with the people," Tony argued.

"We can still arrange something," Steve said, "We can find people to look out for you without giving away who you really are."

"People like the fox and the bird you already have following me around all the time?" Tony said with a smirk and was amused at the surprised look on the faces of the alphas, "Really, it is as if you had found the human versions of Ginger and Tweetsy. Only that Tweetsy is now a man."

"Okay, you got us," Steve sighed.

"But that was just because we were worried about you," Bucky continued.

"Okay, then let's make a deal. You'll pretend I haven't been sneaking around, and I'll pretend you guys haven't put ninja one and ninja two at my tail."

In the end, they all agreed to keep things as they were, with the difference that now they would not be hiding anything from each other.

Tony's escapades lasted for a while, until he was heavy with pups. Not that he did not want to continue to keep going to his shop in the city, but he understood it was not advisable, since it'd be too obvious he was not who he said he was.

They had twins. An alpha girl, who was Bucky's, and an omega boy, who was Steve's. Twins from two different alphas was an exceedingly rare phenomenon, which made the pair even more special to everyone's eyes.

Many would say they lived happily ever after, but the kids were too mischievous and gave their parents a lot of trouble. But they were unconditionally loved still.

**THE END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is is, folks :D
> 
> Thank you everyone for reading, and also your comments, kudos and bookmarks ❤  
> I'll still be thankful for future comments you may wish to leave!
> 
> I truly hope you enjoyed this story ❤❤❤❤❤❤


End file.
